The Only Exception
by ThePhoenix17
Summary: Everyone has secrets... these teens know that better than anyone. When a new girl is thrown into the mix, everything you know about the Secret Life gets a little shaken up. Romance, death, drama, and just a little bit of comedy. **Set After Amy Goes To NY
1. Chapter 1

Grace Bowman was walking through the halls of Grant High School. Usually, when starting a new grade she would have made a resolution for herself, but this year was different. She was a senior now! Her heart was exploding with pride. She had finally made it, and this year was going to be perfect… well, with the exception of Adrian having Ben's baby. That royally sucked.

Grace didn't mind all that much. It wasn't like Adrian and Ben were together. They were just bringing a child into this world _together_. And Grace wanted to be with Ben! Sure, he was awkward and didn't know when to shut up, but neither did she! Plus, he was really cute.

Then there was Adrian, she wasn't even into Ben! She was still secretly in love with Ricky. That's what Grace was hoping anyways…

"Hey,"

Grace jumped, "You scared me!"

"Sorry, you were a bit zoned out!" said Adrian, defending herself. Grace smiled weakly and leaned against Adrian's locker. "You were walking the halls with that glazed over look."

"Was I really?" Grace moaned, "That is not how I wanted to start my year…"

"Yeah, well I didn't want to start my senior year pregnant, but then Ben Boykewich happened." Adrian glared at Ben, who was standing on the opposite side of the hall.

Grace sighed.

"Why don't you just ask him out again?" Adrian rolled her eyes.

"Well… I… he's the father of your baby!" Grace stated.

"And?" Adrian laughed.

"And I have to go." Grace lied, starting to walk away. "I'll see you after school."

"Whatever…" She heard Adrian mutter.

Grace raced down the hall pretending she had somewhere to be. Then Grace saw a very pretty girl with long auburn hair walk in. She silently thought to herself that it reminded her of a Broadway entrance. The girl walked through the red double door by herself and the way the light shined upon her made it look like there was a spotlight. This girl was new, because people would have noticed her before today.

Grace made her way towards the girl, who was staring down at a piece of white paper that Grace took to be her schedule. "Hi! I'm Grace Bowman." She smiled deeply.

The girl look startled but then let out a warm smile, that Grace could tell was going to break hearts. "Hi Grace Bowman, I'm Peyton Powers."

"Hi," Grace repeated again. "That's such a nice name."

"Thanks, yours too." The girl had the smile plastered on her face, but in a completely genuine way. "So, are you like the welcome wagon here at Grant?"

"Oh, no!" Grace giggled. "I just had a feeling you were new, and came over to introduce myself."

"Is it that obvious?" Peyton said as her smile faltered a tiny bit.

"Not really, I'd just never seen you around before."

"Well, that's reassuring. At least you don't think I'm a freshman!" Peyton said, making Grace giggle. "Anyways, Grace, do you think you could help me find my locker?"

"No problem!" Grace said, taking the sheet of paper from Peyton's hands. "Oh, this is two down from Amy's locker!"

"Amy?" Peyton asked as they walked.

"Amy Juergens, she's a junior." Grace said. "Oh, I'm so rude! I'm a senior. What are you?"

"Me too." Peyton smiled.

"We might have classes together!" Grace yelped excitedly. Peyton looked a little frightened, but nonetheless the smile still stayed on her face.

When they arrived at the locker, Peyton's locker, Grace helped her open it and they had a conversation about the school.

"… And Amy had John two last February." Grace was going on.

"Amy has a baby?" Peyton said, curiously.

"You don't have a problem with that do you? Because if you do I'd have a problem with you, and I really don't want to have a problem with you because you're really nice!" Grace said alarmed.

"Calm down, I don't have a problem." Peyton smiled, "I'm just curious."

Grace let out a sigh of relief. Then spotted Amy, and said: "Oh, Amy!"

"Grace," Amy smiled slightly, opening her locker.

"This is Peyton Powers, she's a senior and she is new here." Grace said excitedly.

"Hi," Amy said kindly.

"Hi," Peyton said back equally kindly, putting a book in her locker. The girls head a little alarm noise and looked around to find the source.

"Oh, that's my cell!" Grace exclaimed. She pulled it out and checked it quickly, blushed and then looked up. "Well, I have to go! I really hope we have classes together, Peyton! Bye Amy!" And then she was gone.

Amy's face looked how Peyton was feeling. Scared yet content at someone so nice.

"Grace is really friendly, sometimes overly friendly. But, that's the way she is." Amy explained, as though she had read Peyton's mind.

Peyton laughed a short laugh. "So, you're the girl with the baby?"

Amy turned to look at Peyton. "So what if I am?"

Peyton's face turned white. "I didn't mean it like that, Amy! I was just trying to make conversation! I think it's great you have a baby! That you had the courage to keep the baby and stay in school! I know that must be hard." Peyton explained herself.

Amy nodded her head smiling. "I'm sorry. I just get a little defensive when it comes to John."

"No, I'm sorry. I should have worded it better." Peyton said.

"It's fine," Amy smiled.

On the opposite side of the hall, Ricky Underwood was walking towards Ben Boykewich who happened to be staring at Amy Juergens with deep longing.

"Ben, can you cover my shift tonight? I have to watch John." Ricky said, approaching his friend.

"Why? Where is Amy going? Not on a date! Please, tell me not on a date!" Ben said quickly, never breaking his glance at his former girlfriend.

"Not that it's any of your business… but she has a job interview." Ricky stated, looking quite annoyed. He then glanced in the direction of the mother of his child and he couldn't peel his eyes away.

"Sure, I'll take the shift." Ben said, still staring. "Do you know who that is talking to Amy and Grace?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing." Ricky stated. The girl's long wavy hair bounced as she smiled and her long tan legs made Ricky want to kiss his way up them.

"What the hell are you guys looking in such concentration?" Jack said coming up behind the two guys.

"Amy," said Ben.

"That really hot girl beside Grace and Amy." Purred Ricky, like a lion hunting.

"Whoa!" said Jack, as he caught sight of the new girl. "Who is that?"

"No idea." said Ricky, as he thought: _But I intend to find out._

Jack pulled out his cell phone and began to text. As soon as he closed his phone, they three boys saw as Grace opened hers, and then quickly said good bye to the other girls. They're eyes didn't really follow as she came towards them, because they were still looking at Amy and the other mysterious girl. Whom, Amy looked as though she wanted to kill now.

"What do you thinks happening?" Ricky said.

"I don't know. But, if she hurts my Amy!" Ben moaned.

"What'll you do, tell her she's hot? Because, that's all she is guilty of." Rick said slyly.

"They are laughing again!" Jack said, obviously confused.

"Girls." The three boys sighed at the same time.

"Boys," Grace said in greeting. "You wanted to talk, Jack?"

"Huh?" Jack said, "Oh! Yeah, Grace… I, erm, wanted to know what was for dinner tonight."

"How should I know?" Grace replied, obviously a bit pissed off.

Before a fight could break out, Ricky caught Jack's drift. He'd asked Grace over here so that they could find out who that girl was. Ricky smiled what a thrifty guy Jack was.

"Grace," Ricky smiled seductively at Grace, who blushed.

"Hey Ricky," She said politely.

"Do you know who that girl is?" He said smiling still.

"Oh, you mean Peyton?" Grace stated kindly.

"The one with the browny-red hair?" Ricky asked, his glance going back to the girl.

"Yeah, that'd Peyton. She's new, she's also a senior." Grace went on, proud of her knowledge.

"Thanks Grace." Ricky said.

"She is really nice… and seems smart." Grace was still saying. But, the boys weren't paying attention, they were back to staring at Amy and Peyton. Amy walked away, after waving to Peyton, as she walked past them… she completely ignored them, well, more of Ben.

Suddenly, Ben was out of his trance and finally acknowledged Grace. "Hey Grace," He smiled feebly.

"Ben," She smiled, then cursed herself for liking the guy who got her best friend pregnant, and was still in love with his ex-girlfriend. Why did she have to be so stupid and forgiving?

Peyton was humming to herself as she put the contents of her bag into her locker. The people here seemed so nice and down to earth. Not at all like the stuck up assholes she was used to.

As she was thinking this, her books tumbled to the ground. "Great." Peyton said to herself, letting out a groan as she bent over to pick them up. There were other, more masculine hands picking some of her books up as well. She turned to look at the kind person who was helping her. The boy… no, man… no, guy… looked like James Dean and Peyton could feel her face flush with excitement.

"Thanks!" She said happily.

The James Dean look alike flashed a perfect grin and spoke in an alluring voice, "No problem."

Peyton paused stupidly and smiled.

"I'm Ricky, and you might be?" He said, keeping the grin on his face.

"Peyton," She smiled and went to get up but smashed her head lightly on the bottom of her locker and let out a few curse words.

"How sweet, you're nervous around me." He smiled, stifling a laugh.

"Don't flatter yourself, I'm always this clumsy." She said rubbing her head and pouting. She was used to the pain of constant clumsiness but she was not used to embarrassing herself in front of really, really, really good looking guys.

"I'm sure," Ricky said slyly, putting the books in Peyton's locker. "Advanced math?" He said, impressed, noticing one of her text books.

"You bet," She smiled lightly.

"Wow, beautiful and smart." Rick said suavely.

Peyton laughed, and then said: "Well, aren't you charming."

Ricky raised his eyebrows innocently while Peyton closed her locker.

"Well, thanks for helping me Ricky." She smiled and began to walk away. Ricky looked stunned, then confused and then stunned again.

"Wait, you aren't even going to give me your number?" He shouted after her.

"You didn't ask for it!" She called back, still walking away.

"Can I have it?" He shouted over the crowd of people and watched Peyton pause and turn around.

"I don't know, can you?" She said rather seductively, and walked away again, leaving Ricky standing by himself in the hallway looking dumbstruck for the first time in a long time.

_This is going to be fun, _Ricky thought.

**Hi Guys! This is my second attempt at FanFic. Ahhh! Lord help me! Please let me know what you think, and leave a review! Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

Amy Juergens hadn't spoken to Ben Boykewich since he had come to see her in New York. She was so unbelievably mad at him, for lying, for trying to hide Adrian's pregnancy, for sleeping with Adrian! She knew that she had said she'd forgiven him for it, but deep down inside… she knew she hadn't. It had broken her heart into a million pieces, and when she had said that they could never be together again, she had meant it. But, now… they really could never be together again.

Amy was over being sad about it though. She was now angry beyond anything she had ever felt before. Sitting in English class she fantasised about the revenge she could get on Ben. Hmm, she could sleep with Ricky, again? No… she didn't want to have sex. She could kiss Ricky, again? But, how would Ben even find out about the smooch? Or, and this was a much more satisfying thought, she could punch Adrian in the face? No… Adrian was pregnant.

Amy groaned out loud as she left the class room. And saw Adrian coming towards her.

_Think of the devil…_ Amy thought.

"Hey Amy," Adrian said pausing in front of Amy.

"What do you want, Adrian?" Amy said, rolling her eyes.

"I just want to say sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen." Adrian said, looking down at her feet.

"You know what," Amy said, furiously. "I'm not going to satisfy you with accepting your apology, Adrian. You meant to sleep with Ben, to get back at me and Ricky. You meant to do those things, and this is what you get for it. You may be happy you are having a baby. But, it's hard. It is really hard. And karma is a bitch, just like you."

With that, Amy walked away.

After school, Ricky waited by his car. He'd been obsessed with that Peyton girl all day. No one had turned him down like that… in… well, never! Sure, there was Grace, but she was into dating him and wanted to have sex with him. She just couldn't because of her religious beliefs.

Adrian had never denied him. Amy had been easy to coax into bed. Lauren was easy to persuade. And, Ashley… well, Ashley was a different story. He didn't even know if he wanted to go there.

What he did know, is that he wanted to get with Peyton. Why? She was easily one of the most attractive girls in the school; she may be even hotter than Adrian.

"Hey, Peyton!" Ricky said waving at the beautiful girl. The way the wind was blowing in her long hair made her seem as though she was walking down a runway.

She smiled. That smile seemed to intoxicate Ricky. What was it about that smile? Why was she having this effect on him? He'd seen many other beautiful girls before, slept with them, kissed them, the works! There was nothing different about this girl. She was just a new face, and therefore another conquest for him.

"Hey Ricky," She smiled and walked right past him. And yet again, he was stunned.

Adrian Lee watched as her ex-flame Ricky waved to some girl. She'd never seen her before. She also watched, as the girl walk right past him. And Adrian couldn't help but let out a giggle. If Ricky couldn't be hers then she didn't want him to be anyone's. Adrian knew that was selfish. But, she loved Ricky, and one day she was going to get him back. Even though, some days she felt that this whole situation was his fault. She wouldn't have slept with Ben, if Ricky hadn't kissed Amy or even slept with Amy way back at band camp. Because then she wouldn't have felt insecure.

But the damage was done.

"Helllllo," Adrian heard Grace say, and then noticed her best friend was leaning on her car.

"Yeah, hi." Adrian said.

"Someone is a bit moody." Grace laughed.

"What do you expect? I'm hormonal." Adrian smiled, "Whose that girl? The one who Ricky waved at just now."

"Sorry Adrian, I don't keep close tabs on Ricky, I just got here." Grace said.

Adrian rolled her eyes, "She has reddish hair."

"Madison? You know Madison." Grace said, confused.

"No! I know who Madison is!" Adrian said, shaking her head. "It's brown! But, it's red… at the same time. Long legs, wearing a floral print skirt?"

"Ohhhh," Grace said with understanding, and then a smiled flashed across her face. "That's Peyton. She's new… everyone keeps asking me about her. She's really pretty, right?"

"She's really pretty something." Adrian muttered.

"I'm just going to ignore that comment about my new friend, and pretend it never happened." Grace said in joking voice. "I've got to go. Bye Adrian, call me!"

"Yeah, yeah." Adrian said and watched as Grace got into her car and zoomed off, just as Ricky Underwood came strutting over towards Adrian. For one fleeting moment she had thought he was coming towards her, and a smile spread over her face. Maybe he'd forgive her?

But, her hopes were smashed when she watched as the love of her life walked right past her car towards Amy Juergens. Stupid Amy Juergens, who was an idiot enough to get pregnant.

_Oh wait, I guess I was too_, Thought Adrian, who then sped away furiously.

"Amy," Ricky said, approaching the mother of his son.

"Ricky," She said in a flat voice. "So, can you watch John tonight?"

"Yeah, it's no problem." He said, seeing that Amy was in a bad mood. Was this girl ever happy? Sure, her boyfriend got another girl pregnant, but he was in the same boat as her and wasn't acting this mopey. Amy needed to lighten up. He really hoped John didn't inherit his mother's mood swings. Just the thought…

"OK," Amy said and hoped into her car about to leave.

"Wait, Amy." Ricky said, walking up to her window. "Where has Ashley been?"

Amy snorted, "Why do you care?"

Ricky paused, "She's my friend…"

"Uh… okay. If she's your friend, why didn't she tell you where she was going?"

"I don't know." Ricky mumbled.

"Anyways," Amy went on, "She's at Mimsy's with my mom and dad. Bye Ricky."

With that, she sped away. Girls seemed to be doing a lot of that today.

Jack Pappas was listening to his girlfriend, Madison go on and on about something that he couldn't seem to care less about. When, he spotted that girl from this morning. She'd been in his Home Room this morning, and he hadn't been able to look away from her hair, which when the light hit it, seemed to sparkle. Wow, he just sounded really corny.

"We should give that girl a ride." Jack said, without thinking.

"What girl?" Madison said, seeming annoyed that her boyfriend had interrupted her.

"That girl walking."

"Why?" Madison's eyes narrowed.

"Because, she's walking…" Jack said, no excuses coming to mind.

"Yeah, so?" Madison rolled her eyes, "For all we know she live in a house down the street."

"Why can't we just be nice and give her a lift?" Jack said slowing down at the curb and rolling down Madison's window.

"Jack? What are you doing!" Madison exclaimed as they slowed to the same pace as the girl.

"Hey," Jack yelled out of the window and watched as the girl turned to look at them with her friendly pace and kept walking as they drove. "Peyton, right?"

"That's right." She smiled.

"Do you need a ride?" Jack asked, flashing his perfect teeth.

"Uh," Peyton was about to say yes, but then saw the look on the red-head sitting beside the guy that she wanted to call Jack, but hadn't been introduced yet. "Thanks, but no thanks. I like walking." She said, flashing her equally perfect teeth.

"Oh, okay. See you around!" Jack said, a little too eagerly.

"Bye," Peyton said and picked up pace as Jack and Madison returned to a normal speed limit.

Jack could feel Madison glaring at him, but was surprised when he heard her say, "She seems nice."

**Howdy! Second chapter! Whoop! Whoop! Hehe. Sorry, I'm getting a little over excited. Just an FYI, I will probably update this often… as Secret Life is always on the brain now that it's back on TV. Though, I have an idea where the story is headed… I'm pretty much writing as I go along. What can I say, inspiration is inspiration. Though, I don't know how often I'll update in the next few weeks because I have online courses to finish up. –Insert groan here-**

**Please review! Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

Peyton Powers was walking down the long sunny street in heels and her feet were killing her. Why couldn't she have been practical? She just had to wear heels on the first day of school. She'd forgotten that'd she'd be walking. Usually she would have driven, but she didn't like to be showy. Her fancy European car definitely would have been a bit flashy in the Grant High School parking lot.

Thankfully no one had noticed her brother, Carson, dropping her off that morning in his equally flashy car. But she was definitely not ready for people to think she was a snob. She'd never been to public school before, and the people were really down to earth and nice, unlike the people at her old boarding school.

When that Jack guy offered her a ride, she really wanted to take it. She should have taken it. But, if looks could kill… that Jack guy's girlfriend would have been a murderer and Peyton would have been dead on the sidewalk.

Just when Peyton was considering taking off her shoes and walking barefoot for the rest of the ten blocks, another car slowed down beside her. She assumed it was another guy; guys always sort of flocked around her… especially the cocky ones, that she just couldn't like. But Peyton was shocked to see that it was the girl she had met that morning, Amy Juergens.

"Hey, need a ride?" Amy called out of her window.

"Yeah!" Peyton said and ran to the car. "You are a lifesaver, honestly."

"It's not a problem," Amy laughed. "Where are we going?"

"Uh…" Peyton said, slightly unsure if this was such a good idea. She weighed her options and said, "this is going to sound really odd, but could you drive me to the Pizza King a few blocks from here?"

Amy smiled, "That is kind of odd, I have a job interview there tonight."

"Really, that's cool." Peyton gulped. Before Amy could ask Peyton why she wanted to go to the Pizza King, the girls heard a cry from the backseat.

"Shh, John." Amy said, looking in her review mirror.

"So, this is John." Peyton said turning around to look at the toddler. "Awe, he is just the cutest little thing."

"I know," Amy spoke with pride at her son, as Peyton turned around to play with him.

"I love babies," Laughed Peyton.

On the other side of town, Ben Boykewich was feeling very depressed. He'd ruined his life. Sure, before he was willing to throw away everything, but being with Amy- his girlfriend who was pregnant by some other guy. But, now that he was going to be a father, she didn't want to be with him and even though he wanted to hate her for treating him like this, he couldn't because he'd tried to hide Adrian's pregnancy. He couldn't bring himself to feel the same way about his own baby, as he had once felt about John. He didn't understand it. What if it had been Amy who had gotten pregnant with his child? He was sure he would have felt differently.

Why did life have to be so cruel? Why did he have to feel so wrong about this?

Ben slammed himself on the bed, getting ready to feel sorry for himself, and have a good long cry.

"Ben, why are you crying?" Leo Boykewich asked his son.

"Dad?" Ben said startled, and wiped his eyes. "I didn't hear you come in."

"Well, it would have been hard to hear me over your wails…" Leo laughed.

"I was wailing?" Ben asked, "Dad, I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean, what is there to do?" Leo said shaking his head, "You've gotten yourself into a mess, that you can't get out of. There isn't anything you can do, Ben. You've just got to be a man, and face the facts. You got Adrian pregnant, you are having a baby. And Amy is allowed to be mad about that. I hate to say it, because she's a nice girl, but she may never want to be with you again…"

"Dad!" Ben yelped.

"Listen, Ben. You know it's true. I know your heart is hurting. But, you need to concentrate on this baby and how you are going to handle this. Because right now, you aren't handling anything, you are just avoiding the whole thing by focusing on Amy." Leo said, patting his son's back.

When Ben didn't say anything, but instead stared off into space, Leo went to get up and told his son that he loved him. But Ben hadn't heard that, he was thinking… thinking really hard. He needed to focus on the baby and Adrian… and he was, but for all the wrong reasons now.

Amy and Peyton had decided that it would be best to go to the Pizza King together, so Amy had told Peyton that she had to drop John off at his father's house. Peyton was curious to find out who John's father was, but was utterly shocked when Amy pulled up to a butcher shop.

"Is this the Sausage King's butcher shop?" Peyton gulped.

"Yeah, Leo is nice." Amy said while trying to get John out of his car seat.

"Oh?" Peyton said. "Wait… is the sausage king's son John's father?"

Amy snorted, "At one point in time, I would have said 'I wish'. But no, John's dad just works here and lives in the apartment above."

Peyton nodded in understanding, and Amy ushered her to come inside with her. As the two girls walked into the butcher shop, Amy with John on her hip and Peyton wearing a nervous look, Ricky came out from the back room taking of his apron.

"Hey John," Ricky said with a smile on his face, and the baby mirrored the same look on his own face.

"Say hi to daddy, John." Amy smiled looking at her happy son. Peyton's mind was racing, Ricky was John's father. How… how confusing. But, Amy seemed so smart, how did she end up pregnant by this… this player? Maybe they had been in a relationship? He didn't seem like the relationship type though, but he hadn't seemed like the dad type either. And right now he was doing a great job of looking like a doting father.

"I have to go upstairs to change, I'll be right back down." Ricky said, and then he finally had noticed Peyton. "Hey," He smiled that suave smile.

"Oh god, just go get changed, Ricky." Amy said rolling her eyes.

"Don't tell me what to do," Ricky said suddenly affronted.

"You said you'd watch John, I have to be at the Pizza King." Amy said, stomping her foot.

"Urgh," Ricky groaned and went upstairs quickly to change.

At first when Peyton saw Amy's face, which was filled with anger and resentment, she had thought that she was still fuming about Ricky, but Amy's glance was now directed towards another boy. Who was skinny, tall and quite cute. He happened to be returning Amy's glance, but longing replaced anger.

"Amy…" Ben Boykewich sighed. "I… we need to talk."

"What is there to say, Ben?" Amy said, rather cooly.

"I… we just need to!" Ben said, urgingly.

Amy shook her head, as though she knew she shouldn't but she also knew that she needed to talk to him. She turned to Peyton, "Could you watch John, just until Ricky comes downstairs?"

Before Peyton could even agree, John was suddenly shoved into her arms, as Amy and Ben were walking out of the store into the parking lot. John's hands were immediately intertwined in Peyton's hair and his eyes grew wide in interest as he pulled and played with it. Peyton was too busy to notice though, as she was watching the fight that was going on outside.

Well, it wasn't so much as a fight, as Amy screaming at Ben and Ben looking as though he wanted to burst into tears and crumble at Amy's feet.

"What is going on out there?" Peyton heard a raspy female voice.

"Fight," Peyton said in a trance.

"I'm Bunny, you are?"

"New." Peyton said, still trance like. But snapped out of it, "I'm Peyton Powers."

"Powers?" Croaked Bunny.

"Yup," Peyton said, then realized she probably shouldn't of said her last name.

"Get out, get out right now!" Bunny said in a stern tone and Peyton's face blushed.

"What's going on here?" Ricky said running down the stairs throwing a shirt on.

"Do you know who this girl is? She needs to leave." Bunny said, sternly again.

"Bunny, what… she's a friend." Ricky said, obviously confused.

Peyton didn't want to be scrutinized so she walked over to Ricky, handed him his son, and started to leave, but turned around looking at Bunny's face and said, "I didn't mean to cause any trouble, I was just with Amy and-"

"And nothing, you need to leave. Now." Bunny said, once again.

So Peyton did leave. She left Ricky stunned, once again. Bunny, looking royally pissed. And John, looking like he had lost his favourite toy in her hair.

**Hi Guys! I wrote this really quickly so I apologize if it ROYALLY sucks. Hehe, I like that word today: royally. Anywho, I have an idea for the next chapter. Sorry if they are moving too slow or whatnot. I'd like to give a shout out to my reviewer **Jenna-mckenzieloveseddie **you rock! Thanks for reviewing! Means the world! And to everyone who is infact reading, thanks **** Please Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Peyton ran out of Boykewich Butchers as quickly as her long legs could take her. When she realized, she had just left one hostile environment, and walked straight into another. Amy was still shouting at Ben, and Ben looked as though he was about to grow a back bone. This left Peyton standing awkwardly by Amy's car praying that Amy would finish ranting at Ben so she could get the hell away from this butcher shop.

"You know what Ben, you don't ge-," Amy began to say, but never got to finish because Ben had decided that the best way to get his old girlfriend to stop yelling at him was to kiss her. Too bad Amy was having none of it, and pushed him off.

"What the…" She yelled, and then proceeded to slap him. Her eyes finally moved to Peyton, "C'mon, we are going."

"Yes, please." Peyton got into the car and watched as Amy pushed past Ben.

"Stay away from me." She yelled as she got into the car as well and started to drive. Peyton could tell by the way Amy was breathing, which was rather scary as she hyperventilated, that she shouldn't say anything until spoken too. She didn't have to wait long.

"I'm sorry, you shouldn't have had to see that. I mean, I've just met you today and I've already dragged you into my drama." Amy said shaking her head.

"No, no. It's totally fine. I should have stayed inside." Peyton said calmly.

"Why were you outside anyways?" Amy asked confused, but was suddenly distracted: "Oh my god! John! I didn't even get to say good bye to him. I am going to slaughter Ben, he made me neglect my son!"

Then Amy proceeded to let out a huge groan. At least she was distracted.

"So, I take it… you once dated Ben Boykewich?" Peyton said, and knew that she probably should have shut up.

"Yeah I did. I thought I was going to marry him. But, the stupid male he is sex became a number one priority, so he went to Italy and had some fling with this Maria character. Urgh. So we break up, and then get back together. During our little time apart, he manages to get Adrian, Ricky's ex, pregnant with his baby. Then, assuming she was going to abort it, he planned on never telling me. And _then_, he comes to New York just to tell me that Adrian's pregnant, and oh yeah she's keeping it! But I still love you Amy blah blah blah!" said Amy, without even taking a break to breathe. Leaving Peyton wide eyed and a little frightened for her life.

"Wow," was all the auburn haired girl could conjure up.

"Yeah, wow." Amy said, calming down a bit. The rest of the drive to Pizza King was in silence. Peyton was afraid that if she spoke, Amy would bite her head off and she rather liked having a head so she stayed silent. Amy didn't want to scare off this new friend, as she only had so many and only so many of those so many were trustworthy. Besides, she needed to calm down if she wanted to get this job. She couldn't work at the Church Daycare forever, she liked spending time with John, but it didn't pay as much as most part-time jobs.

"Here we are." said Amy, getting out of the car.

"Thanks for the ride, I really appreciate it." Peyton said.

"No problem, not all of us have cars." Amy smiled.

"Uh, yeah." Peyton said smiling nervously.

The two girls walked into the Pizza King and looked around at the biggest pizza place in town. It was always spotless, but it always looked homely and everyone who was an employee was super friendly and groomed.

"I almost forgot how nice it was in here," said Amy looking around in awe, as though she would kill to work at the Pizza King.

"Yup, it's pretty nice." Peyton said awkwardly.

"Can I get you two girls a table? Booth?" said the greeter.

"Oh no!" Both the girls said in unison.

"I'm here for a job interview," Amy said quickly, laughing in a friendly manor.

"Okay, and you?" said the greeter.

"I'm here to see… my d-, I mean, Kevin." Peyton said quickly.

"Who are you to the Pizza King to call him Kevin?" asked the greeter quite rudely and out of character. Amy looked at Peyton quizzically and also waited for a response. But before Peyton could come up with some excuse, the Pizza King himself walked into the room…

"Sweetheart!" Kevin Powers, the Pizza King, said excitedly as he put his arm around Peyton.

"Hi Dad," Peyton muttered, defeated that her secret had been blown away so quickly.

"Wait, you're… your dad is… why didn't you tell me?" Amy asked.

"Who's this?" the Pizza King asked referring to Amy.

"This is my friend from school, she's here for a job interview." Peyton said dully, suddenly in a very horrible mood.

"Amy Juergens," Amy smiled, still slightly stunned.

"Oh! I picked your name up out of the stack of applications!" the Pizza King said excitedly, and then continued: "My son Carson is learning the ropes of owning his own business, he'll be interviewing you!"

"Did I hear someone call my name?" said a husky voice. The voice belonged to a very handsome and tall, you could call him man, but he looked no more than nineteen. He shared the same hair colour as Peyton, but his eyes were brown and warm, while Peyton's eyes were green like grass. He was muscled and was rather fair. Amy could feel her mouth water.

"Yes, son." The Pizza King smiled, grabbing his other child and throwing his other arm over him, even though Carson towered over his father. "Carson, you'll be interviewing Amy today. She's a friend of Pey. Make sure to give her all the special treatment." He laughed.

"Hi," said Carson, extending his hand to meet Amy's and they shook.

"H-Hi," Amy stuttered.

And Peyton… well Peyton was in her own little world, really hoping that Amy wouldn't mention her family to anyone. But, by the way Amy was looking at Carson, Peyton knew that wouldn't happen.

_This is going to royally suck_, Thought Peyton.

**Thanks for reading! I know it's a very Peyton/Amy rich chapter... but it needed to be done! Hehe, thanks for reviewing other chapters! Please review again! If you do, I might send you a sneak peek! :) By the way, I'm going to try and upload and image to my profile, and that'll be like an image for The Only Exception. I'm working on it, I'm not even sure if I can upload an image to my profile. :\ If I can't I'll just put up a link so you guys can see my crappy photo editing skills!**

**Review! Thanks for reading! :) xoxoxo**


	5. Chapter 5

Ricky was left in the butcher shop holding his son tightly to his chest as he watched Peyton leave in a hurry with Bunny's eyes darting back and forth from Ricky to the door. Ricky had worked at Boykewich Butcher's long enough to know that you never wanted bunny to stare at you like that.

"You knew that girl?" Bunny asked, her face almost as red as her hair.

"Yeah, she's new at school." Ricky replied.

"You should stay away from her. I don't want to see her in this shop again. Or I'll fire you." Bunny said, being serious. As if, Ricky was the one who had even invited Peyton in. What the hell had just gone on? Why did Bunny kick Peyton out? How did Bunny even know her? If Ricky new anything, he knew that he was definitely not going to take Bunny's advice on staying away from Peyton.

Ben Boykewich was still standing in the parking lot of his father's business, holding the cheek that Amy had slapped. He supposed he deserved it. But, at the time he could think of no other thing that he'd rather do. He thought that if he had kissed her, it would be like magic, and suddenly Amy would forget all of the things that he had done and everything would have been repaired. They'd just be Amy and Ben, together forever… again.

It hadn't worked though. And yet again, Ben was devastated. He needed Amy. He needed to be with her, to touch her; he needed her to forgive him. He had to do something. He had to make this right. He picked up his cell phone and dialled.

"Hello," He heard the smooth voice on the other end.

"We need to talk," He replied, "I'll come over later." And hung up the phone, went inside to do his job, though he would be thinking about different things.

On the opposite end of town, Amy Juergins was bursting with excitement. She had finished her interview with Carson, Peyton's unnaturally sexy brother, and though she had been so incredibly nervous he had said that he thought she'd get the job. Though, she'd left out a tiny little aspect of her life when talking to him… John.

But really, what did that matter. It was just one tiny little detail, and even if she got the job she wasn't inclined to tell them. And it wasn't as though Carson was flirting with her, or asked her on a date… so what did it matter that he didn't know about John? It didn't.

"So, I'll call you." Carson said, making Amy jump.

"Y-you'll call me?" Amy stuttered, like she usually did when she was nervous. _Be cool, Amy. _She thought to herself.

"Yeah, you know if you get the job." Carson winked. What was that supposed to mean? Was he flirting with her? No, it couldn't be.

"Well, I'm looking forward to it." She giggled.

"Car, can you drive me home now?" Peyton interrupted rudely, looking quite grief stricken.

"Sure," Carson said, rolling his eyes.

"Uh, Peyton?" Amy said, and when Peyton looked at her she continued: "Is there something wrong? Did I do something to upset you?"

"No!" Peyton said exasperated. "I just thought- that you wouldn't want to hang around with me anymore."

"What- why?" Amy asked.

Before Peyton could respond, Carson jumped in. "She thinks that you and whomever else she met today won't like her because you'll think she's some rich jittery snob because she's the Pizza Princess."

"Don't call me that!" Peyton shouted angrily at her brother.

"Why would we think that? I just met you and I can already tell that you aren't like that at all." Amy said, reassuringly.

"Yeah, but some people don't think like that. They just jump to conclusions." Peyton said, depressingly.

"Oh c'mon, Pey. I'm sure that if you just ask Amy nicely, she promise she won't say anything for a while… at least until a few people get to know you better." Carson said, eyeing Amy… almost begging her to agree.

"Oh, yeah. Totally." Amy said right away, and regretted it.

"Really?" Peyton asked, looking strikingly like a child who had fell and scraped her knee then was offered ice cream.

Amy nodded her head.

"Thanks," Peyton said, walking over to and hugging Amy.

"No problem." Amy hugged back awkwardly.

"Problem solved!" Carson said, throwing his arms around the two girls. Amy blushed, while Peyton pushed him off shoving him into Amy. His charming smile looked down on her, "Free pizza?"

"Yum," Was all Amy could think of saying, but it definitely was not about the pizza.

Adrian Lee sitting on her bed reading a pregnancy book, she had no idea what the word lamas meant but she didn't think she liked the sound of it.  
Speaking of sounds, there was a knock at her bedroom door. "Who is it?" She asked, though she knew who it was… she just liked to play games.

"Ben," said the voice on the other end.

"Oh, come in." She said in a sultry voice, and he did.

"Hi," Ben said, once he was in the room.

"You wanted to talk? If it's about the baby, I'm all baby talked out." Adrian said, shaking her long black hair out.

"No, actually." Ben gulped. "It's about Amy and Ricky."

"Oh god, they aren't together are they?" Adrian said in a cool voice, but anyone who knew her could see the insecurity and panic in her eyes as she asked the question. And Ben did know her, he was relying on her insecurity to make this work.

"No, they aren't. But… they could be." Ben said quickly, he wasn't very good at lying. But, he honestly felt that it wasn't a lie, that it could very well be a possibility for Amy and Ricky to start dating.

"Okay… and?" Adrian said, obviously very interested.

Ben gulped again. He knew he had to do this if he ever wanted Amy back. But, it just felt so deceitful and wrong. He reassured himself that sometimes you had to do bad things to get to good parts. The road to heaven is paved with bad intentions? Wasn't that the saying? Whatever. He had to do this… it was the only way.

"I have a plan."

**Left you hanging there, eh? Just for the record, I know that the saying is "the road to hell is paved with good intentions," Ben is just being a nervous ninny and can't get his thoughts straight! Hehe, please leave a REVIEW! If you are reading, I'd really like to hear what you're thinking about this! Am I doing good? Is there any way I can improve the reading experience for you! Thanks for reading and reviewing! Love you! Xoxoxo**


	6. Chapter 6

Peyton Powers had been attending Grant High School for two weeks now. She was happy and radiant. Some people just want to be near her because they hoped her radiance would rub off on them.

Peyton was overjoyed. She had found a good friend in Amy, who had kept her secret so far. And Grace was really nice too. Jack had taken to sitting beside her in homeroom and chat her up, so that they could now call each other friends. And Ricky, well she had been avoiding him like the plague, a very charming plague, but the plague nonetheless.

She was walking along the deserted hall on her way back to class when she suddenly wanted to turn the other way. There was Ricky, leaning on a locker. Before Peyton could make a break for it, he looked over at her.

"Hey!" Ricky said.

"Hi," Peyton replied kindly, she couldn't help but to be nice. He was just so cute. Too bad he was a no good player, who happened to be her friend's baby's daddy!

"You been avoiding me or something?" He laughed as he approached her.

"No, why would you say that?" She said nervously. Ricky smiled at down at her, though he didn't have to look very far as she was almost as tall as he was.

"I'm not stupid. I know you've been avoiding me." He laughed.

"Well, you are a bit self-absorbed. I mean, why would you think I'd waste energy avoiding you?" Peyton said grinning. She was flirting. Why was she flirting? Because he's cute!

"I'm sure." Ricky said, being daring he tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"Do you mind?" Peyton asked, "I kind of like my personal space, thanks."

"You liked it. Don't lie." Ricky said, as Peyton started to walk away. He grabbed her arm, and she turned around to flash him her warm smile that made his heart melt.

"Keep dreaming." Peyton said, and stalked off to her classroom.

Amy arrived at her the Pizza King for her third shift ever. She loved working at the Pizza King, and she made double the amount that she had made at the Church Daycare.

"Hey employee," smiled the hunky manager and son of the boss, Carson.

"Hey," Amy smiled flirtatiously. She couldn't help it, and she didn't care if he was Peyton's brother. Carson was the hottest guy she had ever seen. And to boot, he was nice and had given her a job too.

As the night wore on, Carson asked Amy to bus a few tables as the bus boy had gone home sick. She became really nervous but was determined to complete the task without error so that she could impress him.

"Amy," someone whispered, as she was cleaning up a table. She twirled around and saw Madison and Lauren sitting in a booth together.

"Guys? What are you doing here?" She asked.

"We came to see you on the job!" Madison said happily.

"It was her idea..." Lauren said, seeing the look on Amy's face.

"Guys, I can't stay and chat. I've got to get ba-" Amy was cutoff.

"Amy? Can I talk to you in the back room?" Amy heard Carson ask her.

"Oh my, who is that? He is smoking hot!" Madison said excitedly.

"I'll be right there!" Amy said loudly, "Thanks guys..."

Amy walked into the cold backroom to see Carson sitting on a desk looking fidgety as though he was about to do something he was dreading. Amy inhaled. She was going to get fired for talking to her friends, she just knew it.

"Look Carson, I'm sorry about my friends... I told them not to-" she started.

"What?" Carson ran his hand through his hair, confused.

"You mean I'm that bad of a hostess?" Amy said glumly.

"Oh go no! Who said that?" Carson said getting up from the desk.

"Then why am I getting fired!" Amy said fiercely.

"Who said anything about being fired?" Carson asked.

"I... well... I... why'd you call me back here?" Amy asked, now seriously confused.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime?" Carson asked with a hopeful look in his eyes.

**Hey guys! I know this one is really short, but I wrote it on my Blackberry out of boredom. It would have been part of a greater chapter. But, I figured… what the hell? So, I'll probably update again today. I'm just having a lot of fun writing this! Thanks for reading! Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

Carson ran his fingers through his hair franticly; he always did when he was nervous. There was something about Amy… she just made him feel like he was 15 again, and scared of girls. She was so pretty, so smart… and she had this mature way about her. Like, she was more adult than the average 17 year old.

He waited for her answer, but she just stood beside the mounds of flour and dough with her mouth hanging open. Maybe he was being to forward? Maybe she thought he was being creepy, because he was 19.

"I… yeah… I mean, yes! Of course I'll go out with you." Amy said, a large smile spread across her face.

"Really?" Carson asked excitedly. He knew he should have played it cool, but this girl wasn't like others, she had a way about her. As though she was above all those petty dating games.

"Yes!" Amy yelped.

"Awesome." He said, taking her into a big hug. Suddenly, they could feel the electricity between them, they both partially broke from the hug and looked into each other's eyes. Their bodies seemed to know what was happening before their minds did, as their lips were about to press together.

"Oh sorry," said Anya, one of the waitresses, as she walked in on the almost-kissing-scene.

Amy and Carson broke apart immediately, red in the face with their hands at their sides.

Anya just stood there, with her arms across her chest and a smug smile across her face. "I didn't mean to interrupt anything."

"You didn't." Both Carson and Amy said with innocence.

"Anyways, the boss wants you Carson." Anya said and strode off out of the room.

"Friday, good?" He asked Amy.

"Totally."

Peyton had been wandering the halls of the high school every day since she and Ricky had spoken. She knew she was supposed to be avoiding him… but he was fun to flirt with, and his player persona interested her. He had a kid, sure. What did that matter? At least he was taking care of John. But from what Amy had told her, she and Ricky hadn't even been dating when Amy wouldn't up pregnant. It was just a one night stand at band camp.

Well, Peyton wasn't a one night stand. Then again, you wouldn't think Amy would be either… with her independent demeanour. Maybe Amy wasn't always like that though… maybe the whole baby thing had changed her.

Someone's hands wrapped around Peyton's waist and spun her around.

"Strolling the halls looking for me?" Ricky Underwood asked seductively.

"Try avoiding Jack in homeroom." Peyton replied, attempting to make Ricky jealous.

"Jack Pappas? Want me to tell him to back off?" Ricky asked, looking jealous indeed. His hands were still wrapped around Peyton's waist, and her palms were pressed to his chest. _I could get used to this, _Ricky thought.

"No, he's sweet. He just has a girlfriend, and I'm not into guys who have girlfriends." Peyton said nonchalantly. Ricky knew the game she was playing, he practically invented that game.

"What would you do, if I kissed you right now?" He asked.

"One of two things…" Peyton smiled, "One: I'd slap you. Or Two: If it was a really, really, really good kiss… I might just kiss back."

"I think I like my chances." Ricky stated leaning in towards her. Peyton responded by turning her head and kissing him lightly on the cheek, before breaking out of their embrace and walking slowly away still grinning at Ricky.

Once again, Ricky was stunned.

"I never said I'd let you kiss me." She smirked. Ricky shook his head.

"We should go out tonight." He said.

"Sure," Peyton smiled.

"Crap, I have John tonight. Amy has a date or something." Ricky said, sounding deflated.

"John can come," Peyton smiled then strode away.

"This girl is going to kill me…" Ricky said out loud to no one in particular.

Adrian Lee watched as Ricky and that new girl were intertwined together, and as the girl rejected him and Ricky stood there looking like a lost puppy. Adrian felt rage bubble up inside her as she watched Ricky stare at that long legged bitch longingly. Once the girl had walked away back towards whatever hole she'd crawled out of, Adrian made her way towards Ricky.

"Your pathetic, did you know that?" Adrian said, which made Ricky turn around to face her.

"Who are you to call someone pathetic, Adrian?" Ricky said shaking his head, trying to leave again.

"She's like my twin, you realize that right?" Adrian asked smugly. At this, Ricky laughed.

"Now, I know you're losing it. You look nothing alike." He shrugged.

"I don't mean like that, you idiot. She's playing you… just like I was. Don't let her nice attitude fool you, she's just like me. I'm just more upfront about it." Adrian said in an in-your-face-tone.

"Actually, the only similarities I see between the two of you is that you're both beautiful. And even that doesn't count, because on the inside you're an insecure, ugly, cold hearted bitch." Ricky said, and this time he didn't let Adrian stop him from leaving. He didn't care if he had made her cry, because she had made him cry more than once, over her selfishness.

Adrian did not reply to Ricky's insult. On some level, she knew what he had said was true. But that did not ease the pain of the words he'd just thrown at her. She wanted to blame him for all her problems, but the truth was that she had made her own bed and now she had to lie in it. That wasn't Adrian, though. She had to take action. She knew that Ricky still had feelings for her; he had once said marriage was a possibility between them. You don't go from that to nothing. Right?

Either way, Ricky had just convinced her that she should now go through with the plan that Ben had confided in her two weeks ago. At first, she brushed it off… thinking it was a waste of time and that Ricky would come back on his own. Then, she had convinced herself that she had no feelings for Ricky. And now, she knew she still loved him and she knew that she would do everything in her power to get him back.

With tears in her eyes, Adrian pulled out her cell phone and dialled Ben's number.

"Let's do this."

**Left you hanging there, eh? Hehe, sorry! Did anyone else notice that Adrian is kind of all over the place with her emotions about Ricky? Yeah, I guess pregnancy will do that to a girl… Anyways! Thanks for reading! I might have another chapter up tomorrow, and it might be really long or it might be normal. I don't know. Thanks for reading! Please review! … if you do I'll give you hugs!**


	8. Chapter 8

The doorbell rang. Amy Jeugens ran to the door quickly and held her breath. John had been picked up, check. She'd brushed her teeth, check. She had set the alarm, check.

"Hey you," Amy smiled as she opened the door. Prepare for awkward first date moments, check.

"Hey, you look great." Said Carson, as he looked Amy over.

"Thanks, you too." Amy smiled; she couldn't wipe the smile off of her face. He was just so cute.

"Are you ready?" Carson asked, smiling slyly.

"Yeah, where are we going?"

"It's a surprise." Carson winked.

Ricky stood at the bowling alley with John in his arms. This was so silly, he was nervous. Where was Peyton? She should be here by now. Ricky hadn't felt this nervous since his first date, and he could barely remember that. When he had offered to pick her up she had declined and said she would meet him at the bowling alley.

He watched as a black SUV drove into the parking lot and stared hopefully. He watched as Peyton got out of the passenger seat rather gracefully for someone who called herself clumsy. She waved at the driver and ran towards Ricky and John.

"Hey baby," She smiled as she reached them.

"Well hello to you sweetie." Ricky responded.

"I was talking to John." Peyton laughed and rolled her eyes and then hugged Ricky and John.

After they had gotten their shoes and played a bowled a few round, Ricky gave up in defeat. Peyton was a great bowler and they were having a blast. She was super cool about John, and he liked that in a girl. Adrian had always been a bit awkward around John, but Peyton was seemed to really enjoy John and John seemed as mesmerized by Peyton as Ricky was.

Peyton and Ricky sat in a booth at the small little diner in the bowling alley, eating fries and cracking jokes. They were having a good time, and everything between them seemed to come so naturally.

While Peyton was telling Ricky a story about how she had broken her arm at summer camp one year, John had decided to become fussy and cry.

"Sorry, he's probably a little tired." Ricky said, beginning to pick him up from his highchair. "I'll go get the bill."

"Oh I'll get it," She said, and when Ricky shook his head no and said that he would be paying, she continued, "If you won't let me pay, then I'll hold John while you go pay."

"Seems like an even trade." Ricky smiled, and handed John to Peyton. "He might have a fit though, he's exhausted."

"I can handle it." Peyton smiled sweetly at Ricky and then at John, whose hand were once again amerced in Peyton's long locks of hair.

Ricky walked to get the bill, at the cash register he stood thinking how great this girl was. She was so cool with everything. Usually girls wouldn't have wanted John with them, he was just something cute to look at but annoying to take care of for them. Ricky looked over his shoulder at Peyton and John, who were giggling at each other with John's hands pulling at Peyton's hair, Ricky couldn't help but to smile himself.

"Look at that girl over there; she can't be more than 18." Ricky's head spun around to look for the person whose voice just spoke those words.

"I know, right? Who is stupid enough to have a baby at that age?" Said another voice.

"Who is stupid enough to still be working at a bowling alley diner when they are 30?" Ricky said, when he had found the owners of the two voices. Two middle aged women stood and stared at him in shock. "That's right. Shut up about things you know nothing about." He said, when they hadn't responded but instead stared blankly.

He wouldn't have anyone talking that way about Peyton or John, even if Peyton wasn't John's mother. They were still insulting her, and he would have done the same thing if it were Amy. People were just so ignorant and stupid.

Amy Juergens had a blind fold over her eyes, with Carson's strong hands leading her way. She could tell by the smell of the air that they were by water. The saltiness of the air was making her thoughts fuzzy, when they were already tangled up from her nerves.

Even though the date had barely started, she already knew it would be a good one. She could feel it in the breezy air surrounding them. Amy felt as Carson led her onto a dock and then pulled the blindfold off to reveal a large yacht.

"Hello Mr. Powers and company." smiled a man in a tuxedo.

"Hello, Harvey." smiled Carson kindly, helping Amy onto the giant boat.

Amy was speechless. The boat was almost the same size as her house, and it had a butler. She took in her surroundings as Carson led her through the boat's deck. There were lights hanging around it, lighting up the boat during twilight and a table set for two with a bottle of champagne in ice beside a bunch of roses.

"Wow." was all Amy could muster.

"It's not too much?" Carson asked, as he pulled out her chair for her.

"It is too much…" Amy said, sitting down.

"Really? I would have taken you somewhere else… I just thought this would be more… intimate." Carson spoke as he sat himself down.

"Oh, no. I mean, I like it here. It's perfect." Amy said, "You know, you don't have to impress me."

Carson smiled shyly.

"You are so… different." Carson spoke slowly.

"Not really." Amy said, clearing her throat, she didn't want to be different. She wanted to be normal because her life was far from normal. But, Carson didn't know that.

"I hope you aren't opposed to champagne." Carson asked awkwardly.

"No, not at all." Amy smiled, she could use some to loosen her up a bit.

Carson poured her a glass and Amy lifted her glass to propose a toast.

"To first dates," she smiled.

"To beautiful first dates," Carson smiled.

And they drank.

Ricky and Peyton were standing outside the butcher shop smiling at one another. Peyton had a sleeping John in her arms, and her other hand in Ricky's.

"Do you want to come up for a bit?" Ricky asked, smiling deeply.

"I want to…" Peyton smiled, but then frowned. "I can't though."

"We don't have to do anything…" Ricky said, being slightly untruthful.

"It's not that. That red headed lady seemed pretty clear when she told me to stay away." Peyton said.

"Bunny? Yeah, what was with that?" Ricky asked, he'd forgotten all about the incident.

"I'm not sure, I have an idea. But, I'm not sure." Peyton said, being slightly untruthful also.

"If I get you up there, you promise you'll tell me?" Ricky asked.

"I promise." Peyton smiled.

"Okay, give me John and then meet me out back by the fire escape." Ricky smiled, "Be careful."

"I have pepper spray in my bag." She winked and handed over John to Ricky, who went inside and walked up stairs.

Ten minutes and a knee scrape later, Ricky was helping Peyton climb through one of his windows. As she climbed though, she stumbled into him. Ricky caught her before they both landed on the floor.

"Ooof." Ricky let out as she fell on top of him. "You weren't kidding when you said you were clumsy."

"I am so sorry." Peyton said, putting her hands over her mouth and scrambling upwards, holding out a hand to Ricky.

"Its fine," Ricky laughed and got up from the floor.

"Ow," Peyton said, looking down at her bloody knee cap.

"How did that happen?" Ricky asked, grabbing her leg.

"I'm a spaz, as you must recall." Peyton giggled, while Ricky went to get his first aid kit. He came back, sat Peyton down and began tending to her leg.

"You know… you are really sexy when you act concerned." Peyton smiled down at Ricky.

"You know… you are really sexy all of the time." Ricky replied, looking up from Peyton's leg. Peyton couldn't control herself, she kissed him on the lips passionately. Ricky grabbed her from the chair she was sitting in and laid her down on his couch without removing his lips from hers.

And they stayed like that.

Amy was a little drunk. Between them, Carson and Amy had finished the champagne. They had finished their dinners and everything was going perfect. They had been chatting and both of their nerves had died down. Amy was feeling rather light headed though, while Carson was feeling overly warm even in the night breeze.

"Would you like to dance?" Carson asked, smiling stupidly.

"Why yes sir." Amy said, and they got up and moved swaying to the center of the deck, locked arms and slow danced together. Carson was so tall that Amy had to look up at him and he had to look down at her. They talked about nothing in particular and held each other as the 'danced' in one spot.

Amy could not help but think that this was really romantic, it seemed like something out of a fairy tale and it was happening to her, finally happening to her. Though she couldn't help thinking it was kind of a lie, would Carson have asked her out if he had known she was a teen mother? She didn't think so. She had wanted this night to be perfect, but she really liked Carson… she wanted to go on a second and third date with him. She knew she couldn't be untruthful with him…

"Carson, I have to tell you something…" Amy said looking up at him.

But Carson wasn't paying attention; he got caught up in Amy's eyes and bent in to give her a kiss. At that exact moment, Amy felt her stomach do a flip and ran out of Carson's arms and to the side of the boat, she leaned over and vomited into the water. Carson ran over and held her hair.

"The thought of kissing me is that bad?" Carson laughed.

"No," Amy said pausing to throw up some more. "I'm just feeling really funny."

"You must've drunken too much." Carson said. And that's the last thing Amy could remember.

Ricky was on top of Peyton, his fingers in her hair and his other hand resting on her breast. She hadn't objected to this. They continued to kiss passionately, and all the pent up tension between them didn't seem to disappear, but to get even more intense.

Ricky's hand was sliding down Peyton's body, and then worked its way back up to her thigh, he made his way to slide his hand up her dress.

"Stop," Peyton moaned.

"Why?" Ricky whispered between kisses on her neck.

"Because…" Peyton said, she hand's still roaming over Ricky's back.

"See, your saying stop… but your body is doing something entirely different." Ricky groaned.

Peyton then froze. "Stop. Please."

Ricky complied right away and rolled to lay beside Peyton. He was somewhat annoyed that she had said to stop, but he wasn't going to show it because he felt lucky to even be kissing her so passionately.

"What's wrong?" He asked, resting his arm over her stomach.

"I… promise you won't laugh." Peyton said going red in the face.

"Does this have something to do with Bunny? Are you going to tell me why she kicked you out?" Ricky looked hopeful.

"No, and I'll tell you that when I feel like it." Peyton said.

"Okay… then what is it?" Ricky asked. "If you are one of those girls who aren't cool with the whole first date sex thing, I respect that."

"Well thanks for respecting that, but it isn't just that…" Peyton said, avoiding Ricky's glance.

"Just spit it out," He said, looking down at the beautiful girl.

"I… I'm a virgin."

**Longest chapter yet! At least I think… ;) Thoughts? Thanks for reading! Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

Sun crept over the small cramped room, and beads of light shone over a long tanned leg and slowly over a sleeping face covered in hair that shone like fiery gold. One deep green eye opened, and then closed, then opened again. Peyton blinked and looked around with a confused demeanour. Where the hell was she?

Wait a second; she was at Ricky's apartment. They had fallen asleep on the sofa together, in each other's arms. Why was she in Ricky's bed, then? She strained to remember being picked up and placed lightly on something soft.

Peyton felt a hand rested on her hip and registered that Ricky was pressed against her back, snoring lightly. She carefully and awkwardly slipped out under him. She stood up and looked at him; he looked so peaceful and so content. He didn't have that concerned look that he usually wore on his face. Peyton grabbed her purse, and then walked over to the mirror in Ricky's room. After seeing her reflection she grinned.

Amy's head was pounding. She had been awake for two seconds, when she realized that she had probably made a huge fool of herself in front of Carson; she briefly recalled barfing and then groaned. She had ruined their date; she shouldn't have drunken so much champagne.

Now her head was spinning, or was that just the boat swaying in the water… The boat? She'd never been home! Good thing her parent's wouldn't be home because they were with Mimsy. Amy's phone rang and she peered down at the caller id. It was her mother, speak of the devil.

"Hello?"

"Amy, we're home… I'm just wondering where you and John are?" Anne Jeurgens asked curiously.

"John is at Ricky's…" Amy stated easily.

"And you are?"

"I'm at my friend Peyton's house. I told you about her on the phone the other day." Amy lied.

"Oh, yeah. Did I wake you?" Anne asked.

"Yeah, everyone else is asleep." Amy said.

"Sorry hun, be home soon."

"Bye mom."

Amy suddenly noticed that she wasn't wearing the little black dress that she had been wearing the night before, that she was suddenly in a man's button up top that smelled faintly like the cologne that Carson had been wearing.

Suddenly, a tall muscular figure was standing in front of her, topless. Carson smiled down at her, and sat down on the bed beside her.

"Good morning," He smiled.

"Can you call it that?" Amy groaned. "Carson, I am so sorry. I must have made the biggest fool out of myself."

"I thought it was a pretty fun night, you did make a fool out of yourself, but I guess I like fools." Carson smirked, running a hand through his auburn hair.

"We… we didn't… you know?" Amy asked nervously, going a deep scarlett.

"What? Oh, no. No we didn't." Carson said, grinning slightly.

"So, why am I in your shirt?"

"You barfed on your dress." Carson shrugged, "It's getting cleaned."

"Oh." Amy smiled. "Crap, what am I going to wear home?"

"I hadn't thought of that." Carson admitted. "Why don't you have a shower? And I'll find you some clothes."

"Sure."

Ricky woke up to the sounds of John crying. He had forgotten John was here and sprang out of bed. It shouldn't have been that easy because he had laid Peyton in his bed last night, where had she gone now? After running to get John out of his crib, who stopped crying at the sight of his father, Ricky walked around the small apartment looking for his Auburn Haired Beauty.

Peyton was nowhere to be found.

After feeding, bathing, and changing John, Ricky set him into his playpen and went to get ready for the day. He stepped into the scalding hot water and let himself think of what had happened the night before. It had been so strange, so out of the ordinary, so… special.

Ricky Underwood had wanted to sleep with Peyton. Hell, he still wanted to sleep with Peyton. And when Ricky Underwood wanted to have sex with someone, well they never said no. It was something about his charm, girls let him do what he wanted and they liked it. They may regret it after, but they enjoyed it nonetheless.

But Peyton was a virgin. She had said no to him. She had said no to _him_. He couldn't even find it in himself to feel mad, or disappointed. He'd kissed her, and that was good enough. He couldn't help but wonder… if she kissed like that, what was she like in bed? He wanted to find out.

He felt different around her, vulnerable. Usually, he didn't like that feeling. But with her, it was like nothing else in the world. He felt happy around her, and she felt happy around him. It wasn't some twisted love triangle, or someone night stand. It was just Ricky and Peyton. It seemed to Ricky, that finally something in his life was going just right.

He stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around himself and walked into his bedroom. Then he noticed his mirror. Loopy writing in red lipstick read:

_I had fun. _

_ PS, You are cute when you are sleeping._

Ricky smiled to himself, and then caught a look at his reflection. Even though he had taken a shower and washed properly, there was a red smudge on his cheek.

Peyton was jogging lightly in heels at the dock. She could easily spot her brother's large yacht. It had been his 18th Birthday present. Carson had always enjoyed sailing, but their father simply hated the water. Peyton reached the boat and was met by her older brother whom was shirtless.

"Did mom ever teach you how to put a shirt on?" Peyton asked slyly, as her brother helped her on the boat.

"Did she ever teach you to change your clothes, you left the house in that last night." Carson winked.

"Shut up." Peyton laughed. "Who's the girl that needs the clothes?"

Carson blushed, and Amy Jeurgens came around the side of the boat in a robe. When she saw Peyton she blushed deeper than Carson had.

"Amy?" Peyton smiled. "God, can't you find your own friends, Car?"

"Peyton, I am so sorry. I meant to tell you." Amy started.

"Amy, calm down I'm not mad." Peyton smiled.

"Really?"

"I'm so not mad that I'm about to give you the dress off of my back." Peyton said giggling.

Twenty minutes later, Amy was being dropped off at her house in Peyton's dress. Carson leaned over to kiss Amy on the cheek. She accepted, and said:

"I had a good time." And got out of the car, waved and went into her house.

Immediately, she ran into Ashley… whose eyes looked red around the edges and puffy as though she had been crying.

"What's wrong?" 

**And that's where I leave you… hehe, I'm evil. I know ****. Second cliff-hanger in a row! Thanks for reading, please review!**


	10. Chapter 10

"What's wrong?" Amy asked her sister, Ashley, whose eyes were red with tears.

"It's Mimsy…" Ashley began, a fresh batch of tears rolling down her face. "She… she's dead."

The words hit Amy like a ton of bricks. She could feel the sadness taking over her every thought, her every feeling. How could she feel so happy, and then suddenly feel so sad. Mimsy hadn't been around much, but she was her grandmother nonetheless. Amy couldn't imagine what her mother was going through. She couldn't bear the thought of ever losing her mother, and the pain she thought her mother was going through right now seemed unbearable.

Amy felt Ashley fall into her arms and the two sobbed together. Though this was a horrible situation, Amy couldn't help but realize this was the first time the two sisters had hugged in a very long time.

As the two walked into the kitchen, Amy saw her mother hugging her father and was surprised. George Juergens was crying in his wife's arms. But, her mother was not crying. Not a tear stain on her face. Only a sad look, that looked less than normal for a grieving daughter. Even though this was abnormal, Amy ignored it and decided her mother was in shock.

Adrian looked down at her expanding stomach. She didn't know how she and Ben were going to pull this off, but it had better work. Even though, she knew Ben was the father of her baby… Adrian couldn't help but wish that she had gotten pregnant with Ricky. Or at least Ricky had wanted to stay with her and raise her baby. She needed Ricky, she loved Ricky. She didn't want to be with Ben, and Ben didn't want to be with her… he wanted Amy.

Ben approached Adrian, and did something unexpected. He put his hand on her stomach and rubbed it.

"What are you doing?" She said asked, confused. Ben smiled at her lovingly.

"Just greeting my future wife and child." Ben said, a smile still plastered on his face.

"Ben, no one is here. And it scares me how good you are at faking this." Adrian smiled back.

"It's all a part of the plan." He winked. They both looked down the hall at that moment and noticed that tall auburn haired girl walk in, her long tanned legs seemingly allowing her to float through the hallway like a breeze. "She really is beautiful, isn't she?"

Adrian smacked Ben on the arm, "I already have one of the men in my life after that… concubine… I don't need another."

Ben laughed, "No worries, you are my one and only. Save for Amy."

Adrian rolled her eyes, "Speak of the devil…"

Amy walked through the red doors, towards her locker. She looked horrible. Her eyes were bloodshot and her hair was unusually messy. Adrian and Ben watched as Peyton smiled at Amy, and they conversed with concerned looks on their face.

"Now is the time, she'll be looking over here in a second." Adrian said. Ben didn't need any further coaxing. He leaned into Adrian and kissed her slowly and romantically, like he always imagined he'd kiss Amy again. Ben tried to stop the make out session, but Adrian just kept going, until Ben had to pull away.

"Adrian…" He whispered. "Is she looking?"

Adrian's eyes had been closed. She shook herself; the hormones must be getting to her, as she had really enjoyed that kiss. She opened her eyes and looked over Ben's shoulder at Amy, who was now crying in Peyton's arms. "She's crying. The plan must be working!"

"My Amy is crying?" Ben looked concerned but didn't turn around. He didn't want to ruin the plan.

"I am so sorry, Amy." Peyton said, patting Amy's shoulder. Peyton didn't know what to say, so she just listened to Amy's sobs and patted her back. Poor Amy, as if it wasn't hard enough being a teen mom, that you had to lose someone you loved.

"I just wish I would have gotten to spend more time with her, my family was there. But, I'd missed so much school already, and I wanted John to have some stability after this summer. I just… this is horrible." Amy cried, she was thankful to have a good friend in Peyton. She was a good listener, she didn't but in and put her two cents in all of the time, unlike Madison and Lauren who hadn't even bothered coming over to ask what was wrong.

"I should get to class." Amy said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Thanks, Peyton. I'm glad you're around."

"Anytime," Peyton nodding, smiling sadly at Amy.

"You're a good friend to her, you know that?" Ricky said, putting his arms around Peyton's waist.

Peyton turned around to look at Ricky, who wore a sad look, but looked glad to see her. "You love her, don't you?" Peyton asked smiling slightly.

"I do, I love her as the mother of my child and as a friend." Ricky said, looking concerned at Peyton's question.

"I'm glad." Peyton smiled, "You're good, do you know that?"

"I'm not good…" Ricky said, looking guilty. He felt guilty that he had ever even kissed another girl in his life. Peyton and Ricky weren't boyfriend and girlfriend… but he wanted them to be.

"Believe what you want, but I know you are." Peyton smiled and lifted up her head to kiss him softly on the lips. Her kiss could be the air Ricky breathed. It was addictive, he could kiss her every second of every minute, of every day and then some.

"What are you doing later?" Ricky asked as Peyton pulled away from him, she was blushing.

"Nothing, I suppose I'm going to be with you." Peyton smiled.

"My place? I don't have John." Ricky smiled a half-smile.

"Sure, I guess I'll being getting another scraped knee up your fire escape." Peyton laughed.

"I liked how that worked out last time." Ricky winked at his… lover?

"See you then." Peyton smiled and left Ricky dazzled by her beauty as she floated away to her next class.

"I see you move on quickly." Ricky heard a familiar voice say behind him. He turned around, expecting exactly who it was.

"Ashley," Ricky said, slowly. "I'm sorry about your grandmother."

"Don't be." Ashley said, "Be sorry for breaking my heart into a million pieces and then spitting on them."

"Ashley…" Ricky began.

"Are you going to say sorry again? Don't bother." Ashley spat venom at him.

"You're being a bit dramatic, don't you think?" Ricky said, and then regretted it.

"Go to hell." Ashley said, storming away.

**A ton of things kind of happened in this chapter! Sorry if it was hard to follow, I was just trying to get a jumble of ideas out! I'm sorry it took so long to update! My god! I was doing online courses and they needed to be done. I'm done them now, so expect updates more frequently… I'm going away this weekend. But, after that… perhaps every other day? Wouldn't that be splendid? THANKS FOR READING! REVIEWWWW PLEASE!**


	11. Chapter 11

Ricky was sitting on his couch flipping through television channels when he heard a knock. At first, he had thought it was at the door, when he realized that it was someone at his fire escape window. Immediately his demeanour brightened. He ran over to the window and saw a beautiful smiling girl waiting to be let it.

"Any bloody knees?" Ricky joked as he opened the window and helped Peyton through it.

"Not yet! But, the night is still young." Peyton laughed as Ricky took her in his arms and began to kiss up her neck slowly. She enjoyed it, a little too much perhaps. It wasn't as though Peyton didn't want to have sex. She just wanted to make sure she had found the right guy, the best guy, the guy for her.

"Want to go to the bedroom?" Ricky asked without thinking, he was so used to asking girls the question when he was in this _mood_ that he'd forgotten that he wasn't having sex with Peyton. Not yet anyways.

"Yes…" Peyton sighed, as Ricky continued kissing her. She snapped back to reality. She wasn't even dating Ricky, not officially anyways. "I mean… no."

Ricky kept on kissing her though, as if the world depended on them colliding into each other, they had yet to break apart. After kissing the whole of Peyton's neck, Ricky reached her lips and cupped her face in his hands to bring her closer to him, if it were even possible. When their lips touched Ricky felt something he'd only felt once before, with Amy. It wasn't as though he was in love with Amy, but there was something about her too. Something in the way she kissed, just like Peyton but different because they had completely different techniques, they both meant the kiss, like the kiss felt so amazing that you didn't even need sex. This was a concept that Ricky had never thought about, or even considered. He'd always want sex.

"I think I'm falling in… something with you." Ricky whispered as they broke apart.

Peyton looked up at him through her long lashes, and smiled. "Me too."

Carson knew something was wrong with Amy, she wasn't her usual self. She's walked into the Pizza King twenty minutes late, and wasn't being very friendly towards the customers. If it was anyone else, he would have entertained the thought of firing her. But, he knew she wasn't usually like this, she must be going through something rough.

"You ok?" Carson asked, coming up behind Amy, who was in the back room.

"No," Amy said as she turned around, revealing her tear stained face. Carson let her lean into him and cry. He was so tall that she barely reached his neck. After minutes of sobbing onto his ugly work vest, Amy looked up at him and wiped her eyes.

"I'm so sorry Carson." Amy said, "I'm probably scaring away all of the customers and now I've ruined your vest."

Carson sighed, "Its fine Amy, I'm just worried about you. What's going on? Has someone hurt you?"

Amy shook her head, "No. Nothing like that. My grandmother died. "

"I'm sorry." Carson said, pulling her in for another hug.

"It's fine," Amy sighed slowly. "I mean, it happens. We live, and then we die. I just can't imagine life without John, or John living without me."

"John?" Carson asked, confused as to who Amy was talking about. Did Amy have a boyfriend? Then why did she go out with him the other night?

"Oh," Amy said, catching herself. She could not believe she had just said that. She hadn't told Carson about John, and she really didn't want to have to now. It was just too much. "I really don't feel like talking about John right now." She said, looking up at Carson innocently.

"Ok," Carson said, it was understandable… he grandmother had just died after all. "Do you want to go home? I can cover your shift."

"Really?" Amy asked, looking appreciative. "I can't do that to you, besides, I need the money."

"Amy… I'm not hard for cash. You'll still get paid. Besides, I'm the manager. I'm telling you to go." Carson said, patting her on the back.

"Ok…" Amy sniffed. "Thanks Carson."

After picking John up from daycare and twenty minutes later, Amy walked through her door with John in tow. He could walk pretty well now, but she still liked to carry him outside for fear of him running too far away from her. He was sleeping on her shoulder, apparently he hadn't gone for a nap. It was already 8 o'clock, so Amy decided she would just put John down early, eat some dinner and go to sleep.

After placing her son in bed, Amy ate her dinner and washed up for bed. She noticed her mother sitting on the sofa with Robbie. Anne Juergens looked lifeless, like she hadn't slept in days.

"Mom?" Amy asked, coming towards her mother.

"Amy?" Anne said very zombielike.

"Do you need anything?" Amy asked.

"No," said Amy's zombie Mother. "Good night."

"Night." Amy said quietly, and walked towards her room. She lay down on her bed and curled up into a ball. It was funny how things could change in a split second, Amy had experienced it before. One second, she was a normal teenager. The next second, she was a teenaged mother. But nothing ever prepares you for the change that happens. The things that happen in a split second have no warning. You can anticipate how you are going to feel, but you never know until all is said and done. One second, her family was becoming normal. The next, it was deteriorating… again. At his thought, Amy cried herself to sleep.

There was a load whining sound. Amy opened her eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them as she looked at her clock. Twelve thirty. She then realized that John was crying in the next room. She dragged herself out of bed and got John out of his crib. Amy couldn't believe that she was still doing midnight feedings. Well, this was the first one that had happened in a long time and he was off schedule a bit.

On the way to the kitchen, Amy saw a light underneath the bathroom door. Her parents had their own bathroom. So, it must be Ashley in there, who didn't have a bathroom out in the garage.

Amy gave John a small bottle and tried to rock him back to sleep, after placing him back in his crib. She noticed that after all this time, Ashley was still in the bathroom. Something was up. Amy had been undecided about going into the bathroom until she heard a sob.

Amy knocked on the bathroom door, and suddenly the sobbing stopped.

"One second," Amy heard Ashley say. After some scuffling around, her sister opened the door. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay? I heard you crying." Amy said, she was becoming suspicious.

"Yeah," Ashley said, "Can't I use the bathroom without you intruding?"

"Of course, Ashley." Amy rolled her eyes. "I couldn't help but notice that you've been in there for forty-five minutes."

"Maybe I'm having washroom troubles." Ashley said sarcastically. Amy didn't want to hear anymore. She pushed the door past Ashley, who had been using it to block Amy's view of the bathroom. Amy was shocked at what she saw. Two little sticks side by side, and a box that clearly read Pregnancy_ Test_.

"Ashley… no,"

And in a split second, things changed again.

**DUN DUN DUN! Another pregnancy? OMG, how many pregnancies can go on in this circle of friends! Wonder who the father is… anyone have some guesses? Thanks for reading, I wrote this really quickly today because I won't be here this weekend! I'll probably update this weekend. Please reviewwwwwww!**


	12. Chapter 12

Ashley pulled her sister into the bathroom and closed the door as quickly and quietly as possible. Tears began to flow from her eyes as she looked at her sister in desperation. Amy wore the same look as her sister, but was instead desperate for this to be a dream. A horrible nightmare.

"You can't tell anyone, Amy." Ashley pleaded. Amy was still wearing that desperate look, as though any minute she would awake, and this would all just disappear. How could this happen?

"Ashley… how… why… what…" Amy couldn't get the words she wanted to say out of her mouth. She was just too shocked and surprised.

"I don't know!" Ashley shouted in a whisper. "I didn't mean… I just… I don't know what I was thinking!" Ashley through herself into her sister's arms and sobbed, just as Amy had done over their grandmother earlier that day. Amy didn't want this for her sister; she didn't want her sister to have to go through all of the troubles that she had gone through.

"Was it your first time?" Amy asked, looking down at her baby sister.

Ashley nodded, "It was horrible, it hurt and I bled. And I wasn't ready." This brought another batch of tears.

"I'm going to slaughter Ricky." Amy said, rage was beginning to consume her. She couldn't believe that he had gotten her sister pregnant. No, he couldn't just be satisfied with screwing up one sister's life. He had to ruin both.

"What?" Ashley looked up at her sister with a confused look spread on her face.

"I can't believe he's done this to you." Amy shook with anger. Ashley didn't respond to what her sister had said, but instead began to ball even more hysterically. She was trying to be as quiet as she could without having to stifle her tears. She couldn't not cry anymore. She had ruined everything. She'd ruined her life, she had ruined her relationship with Ricky, and she had ruined her parents' marriage… again.

"You won't say anything?" Ashley looked up at her sister again, with a hopeful look on her face.

"No," Amy said grudgingly. "You kept my secret. I'll keep yours as long as I have to."

"So what are we exactly?" Ricky laughed, getting a spoonful of ice cream shoved into his mouth by Peyton, whose legs were resting on his lap as the two of them sat on Ricky's sofa watching old movies.

"Must we put a label on it?" Peyton asked, shoving ice cream into her own mouth. To be honest, she really wanted him to put a label on it. She wanted to be his girlfriend. But, that really wasn't Peyton Powers' style. Sure, she'd had boyfriends before… but they were one day boyfriends that she had for convenience and once they tried to get into her pants, she dumped them. She wanted Ricky to say what he wanted, and then maybe she'd agree.

"We don't have to…" Ricky said, looking a little glum. For the first time, he actually wanted to put a label on a relationship. "I'd like to know what I'm supposed to introduce you as…"

"What do you mean?" Peyton said, titling her head sideways… something that Ricky found adorable.

"This is my friend Peyton, we kiss and we have feelings for each other." Ricky said mockingly and laughed with Peyton.

"I see your point." Peyton said, narrowing her eyes. "We are kind of dating."

"We are," Ricky smiled. "You are _my _girlfriend." He liked the way that sounded coming out of his mouth, and the way it rolled off his tongue… simply because he was saying it about Peyton.

"You are _my _boyfriend." The thought made Peyton extremely nervous. Sure, she was overjoyed. But, at the same time…by labeling their relationship, they would have to put another label on it later… whether it was backwards or forwards. Peyton didn't like feeling so vulnerable, and that was the way that Ricky made her feel, she just didn't want to get hurt.

"Oh goody, now we get to have anniversaries and date nights!" Ricky joked, Peyton laughed along at his wittiness… but she still felt a little worried. What if he did do something to hurt her? She could hardly bear the thought.

"Can I sleep over?" Peyton asked, surprising herself.

"Sure," Ricky smiled, his eyebrows rising.

"Oh don't get too excited. We are not having sex." Peyton laughed as Ricky pouted like a little puppy dog. He grabbed her by the bum to pull her closer to him.

"You've got a little…" Ricky said gesturing to Peyton's face.

"What?" Peyton asked, searching for the ice cream that he was referring to on her face.

"I'll get it." Ricky smiled, and kissed it off of Peyton's cheek. He moved to her mouth and she repositioned him so she was on top while they kissed. "I like a woman in control." Ricky laughed.

"Just making sure if there is any funny business, it's me who is conducting it." Peyton winked. She thought she just might be falling in… something with Ricky. Like him, she didn't want to say love. Love was hard, and how could this be love if it was so easy…

In the earlier hours of the morning, Amy and Ashley Jeurgens pulled into the parking lot of a fast food restaurant. Amy was at the wheel with a look of shock seemingly attached to her face permanently. Whilst, Ashley sat in the passenger seat with tears streaming down her face and her head down. In her hands, a tiny grocery bag with two already opened pregnancy boxes inside it.

Amy watched as her sister, Ashley, got out of the car slowly and dropped the bag in a nearby garbage bin. Ashley walked back to Amy's car and got in, with tear stains decorating her young face. Her young face, that look so pained and worried that Amy could hardly stand to look at her sister.

"Thanks, Amy." Ashley said, looking down at her now empty hands.

Amy ignored her sister's thanks; she had hardly heard it with all of the thoughts running around in her mind. Instead she said, "What are you going to do?"

Ashley looked taken aback but answered: "I don't know. I really do not know."

"Ashley," Amy began, "You… no, we… We will get through this."

Ashley made a noise that blew her sister off; she had turned from saddened to anger with the flip of a switch. "I can't believe after everything you've been through, you manage to still be so naive."

Amy shook her head, "You can stop. I know you are hurting, so I'll ignore what you just said to me. Keep in mind; it doesn't hurt to have a little faith. Especially in your situation."

As the two sisters pulled back in the drive way of their house, they saw the light in their kitchen was on, signalling that one of their parents were awake. As they made their way through the house and approached the kitchen they saw their father sitting at the table with their brother Robbie in his arms.

"Morning, dad." Amy said placing her keys down onto the countertop.

"Where were you guys?" George asked his daughters. Ashley, who still had tear stains streaking her face, looked stricken with panic. She hadn't thought of an excuse yet.

"We just needed to go for a drive. Ashley and I are just having a hard time." Amy said calmly. She seemed to be coming to her sister's rescue more than usual, and she had promised she wouldn't tell the secret… she supposed that meant not letting it get out naturally either.

"I know it's hard… dealing with losing someone you love. Mimsy is in a better place now, girls." George said, looking a little weepy as he did so. "I'm just glad you two are getting along, again."

Too bad he did not know why.

Peyton had walked into her overly large, mansion style house freely with her heels on. Usually, a teenager who was just getting home in the wee hours of the morning would be cautious about the tap-tap-taping noises her heels were making throughout her house. But having an overly large house paid in more ways than comfort. The only people that could hear her tapping were the ones she could pay, and who had known her forever and knew when to keep their mouths shut.

She had quietly snuck out of Ricky's, her boyfriend, house. And now she was loudly entering her own. Peyton did not quite understand why she had left. They had only been sleeping. But, when she had woken up, she had looked at Ricky thoughtfully as he slept. And suddenly she had wanted to leave. Impulsive as Peyton was, she did.

And though Peyton could hardly understand her own actions, she thoroughly understood other peoples. She knew that Ricky would forgive her for leaving, because he was in love with her…

And Peyton didn't want to admit it to herself, but she was in love with Ricky.

**I'm back! In case you were wondering, I had a pretty good trip. Though, I know have a cold. FML. Let me know how you like this chapter (though nothing really happens, just some stuff that I need to let you readers in on) by reviewing! Thanks for reading, and reviewing. It means a bunch! New chapter might be up tomorrow, and it might be very long… I haven't decided. You choose: One very long chapter that takes a bit to write or medium size chapters that come out faster? xoxo**


	13. Chapter 13

"Good morning, sis." Carson Powers said, slurping on coffee while reading the paper in nothing but his boxers. He greeted his sister like this most mornings, particularly because he knew how much it annoyed her that he was so chipper at such an early hour.

"Not good morning." Peyton replied, while grabbing her brother's coffee and sipping it. She rolled her eyes at her brother and scuffled to get a bowl of cereal. "Don't you ever wear shirts?"

"What's a shirt?" Carson asked sarcastically as his sister sat down in front of him, wearing her glasses. "Miss, can you tell me where I can find the Harry Potter books. I'm not quite up to date on the dewey decimal system."

At this, Peyton let out an obviously fake laugh. "You are just a big ball of laughs today, eh?"

"You bet, sugar pie." Carson winked and ran a hand through his auburn hair. One could almost assume that the siblings were twins, if not for the fact that Carson was a male and Peyton a female. They had the same color hair and wore the same looks, and besides the gender… they only other difference was the eye color, they both had green eyes. Carson's were just deeper green.

"Oh, have fun last night? I heard you come in around five a.m. You are aware that it's a Tuesday?" Carson said, laying his newspaper down on the table and staring at his sister as though he was their stern father.

"I could have sworn you weren't my father…" Peyton said sarcastically while eating her cereal.

"You are just lucky we have an oblivious father, and a mother who… is the way our mother is." Carson said, and ended with a cough as he'd realized he'd said something that Peyton wasn't comfortable.

"Your sensitivity amazes me." Peyton said, rolling her eyes and dumping her empty bowl into the sink. "Can you give me a ride to school?"

"Jesus," Carson moaned, "You'd think that if you had your licence, and your own damn car that you would drive yourself to school."

"Please?" Peyton begged, and threw on her best sympathetic look.

"Whatever," Carson said, realizing that this was his chance to ask Peyton about John. Carson was still unaware as to who this 'John' was, and kept wondering why Amy would agree to go out with him if she already had a boyfriend.

Twenty minutes later, Carson and Peyton were sitting in Carson's flashy black SUV outside Grant High. He hadn't gotten a chance to ask her about John yet, because Peyton had been going on about Blake's, their sister, return from Paris. The two sisters hadn't always gotten along and Peyton was stressing about how they were going to deal with each other once Blake had returned.

"Pey," Carson interrupted his sister.

"Huh?" Peyton said, snapping out of a nervous rant.

"Tell me about John…" Carson said, bracing himself.

"Amy's John?" Peyton asked with a confused look. And when her brother nodded, she proceeded to say: "He is the sweetest. He is really cute and smart for his age. You'd love him, Car."

Carson felt his stomach drop. He really liked Amy. He thought she was really cute, and that she was really smart for her age. How could she agree to go out with him, when she had a guy on the side? And how could his sister be so… so… nonchalant about this whole thing.

"I should go though," Peyton said, stepping out of the car after pecking her brother on the cheek and thanking him for the ride to school. She waved to him as he left, though he hardly gave her a second look, and instead drove away with a look of sadness and confusion on his fave.

While Carson hadn't given his sister a second look, Peyton hadn't given her brother's abnormal behaviour a second thought as her long legs carried her onto school property. There, she ran into Jack Pappas, who grabbed her arm as she walked by.

"Hey," Peyton said, smiling politely at him.

"Hey, what's up?" Jack said, releasing her arm and smiling down at her, his insides going to mush.

"Uh," Peyton started, a little annoyed that he had stopped her for just chitchat. "Nothing much, just going to class…"

"Nice," Jack nodded awkwardly, unable to come up with something to say next. "Is that that why you never let me give you a ride home?"

"Huh?" Peyton asked confused.

"That guy that just dropped you off," Jack said, frowning a bit.

"Oh! Yeah, pretty much." Peyton said, and then: "But, I'm going to go! I have to ask my English teacher about something. See you."

And with that she stalked off towards the inside of the school, leaving Jack staring longingly after her with a pout on his face. Suddenly, he felt someone grasp his arm and looked down at his girlfriend, Madison.

"Good morning!" Madison said, kissing Jack on the cheek.

"Yeah." Jack said lazily.

"What were you and that Peyton girl talking about?" Madison asked, she sounded curious, but obviously had girlfriend motives for being curious.

"Her boyfriend," Jack stated.

Later that day, Ricky Underwood strode through the halls looking for his girlfriend. His beautiful girlfriend, his lovely girlfriend. The girlfriend that leaves in the middle of the night without leaving a note, or calling, or waking him up. Usually, Ricky would have stopped seeing a girl for this. But, usually, Ricky didn't have a girlfriend… especially not one like Peyton. He'd texted her all morning without response and was beginning to get worried.

"Ricky," nodded a familiar face.

"Ben," Ricky groaned, but decided to stop and talk.

"So, you've heard that Adrian and I are together?" Ben asked with a sly look on his face.

"Good for you two, now the baby will come into a semi-stable environment." Ricky nodded, clearly not really bothered by the fact that his best friend and former girlfriend were together or with the conversation about it.

"Ben, have you seen Peyton around?" Ricky asked, changing the topic of conversation.

"No, I have-" Ben started but was cut off by an approaching Adrian.

"Don't you know it's inappropriate to go after a girl with a boyfriend?" Adrian smiled, taking hold of Ben's hand.

"If you mean Peyton, I don't really think so. Seeing as I'm her boyfriend." Ricky stated, annoyed.

Adrian was a little taken aback at what Ricky had just said, but decided to burst his bubble. "So, you dropped her off in a black S.U.V this morning? 'Cause she told Jack that her boyfriend was the one who had dropped her off." Adrian smirked, loving the look of despair that washed over Ricky's face.

"You are lying." Ricky said becoming angry.

"Actually, she isn't." Ben said, "The whole school is talking about it."

"Why would the whole school be talking about it?" Rick asked, enraged.

"What else would we talk about?" Adrian said, still smirking. Ricky ignored her comment and left them standing in the hallway staring at each other. It seemed as though their plan might be working.

When school ended and Peyton was done collecting her belongings from her locker she walked down the halls searching for Ricky, who she hadn't seen all day. She was beginning to worry about him being angry over her leaving his apartment earlier that morning. After ten minutes of searching the school for Ricky, Peyton gave up and exited the building. On the way out she reached into her bag, grabbed her cell phone and dialled Carson's number.

After a few rings, he answered. "What?"

"Can you please pick me up?" Peyton asked, slightly annoyed that he had not already assumed that she might need a ride.

"Give me a half an hour." Carson groaned, Peyton could hear the familiar noises of the Pizza King in the background and understood that her brother was working.

"Sure," Peyton sighed and hung up the phone.

"I can't believe you." Ricky said.

Peyton twirled around to see Ricky behind her, his own car in the near distance. Peyton gulped. He was mad.

"I'm sorry; I should have left a note. Or woken you up. But, you looked so peaceful." Peyton smiled, Ricky almost fell into her lovely trap, but then he recalled that she was cheating on him.

"You know that's not what I'm talking about." Ricky said, feeling very depressed.

"What?" Peyton said, frowning in confusion. "Actually, I don't."

"The fact that you have a boyfriend." Ricky said, raising his voice slightly. "And now I look like an idiot."

"Uh, yeah. I do have a boyfriend." Peyton said, crossing her arms in frustration. "It's you."

"Obviously it's not. Because you've been telling people that your boyfriend is the one who drops you off in damned black SUV every day." Ricky yelled.

"You think… you think that the person dropping me off every day is my boyfriend?" Peyton stifled a giggle.

"What is so funny?"

"You," Peyton smiled, taking a couple of steps closer to Ricky and smiling deeply at him. "You're cute when you are jealous."

"That's hilarious." Ricky said sarcastically, and began to walk away when Peyton grabbed his arm.

"Ricky!" Peyton yelled, and when he stopped she put her hand on his shoulder and said: "The guy that's been dropping me off… he isn't my boyfriend."

"Then who is he?" Ricky asked, more confused than ever.

"My brother, you big dope." Peyton smiled. "Why would you believe other people? Why not just ask me?"

"Are you serious?" Ricky asked, letting out a sigh of relief. And when Peyton nodded and began to open her mouth to speak, she was cut off by Ricky attacking her with kisses. He had been so afraid of losing her, he had almost shed tears in front of her. Ricky and Peyton stood in the school parking lot interlocked in a passionate kiss for quite some time.

**Happiest ending in a few chapters, eh? No worries, drama is coming! I'm just splitting one large chapter up... probably into three. The next chapter might possibly be out later tonight. Let me know what you think of this exceptionally normal chapter! Thanks for reading and please review!**


	14. Chapter 14

_She was breathing heavily and his hands were intertwined in her hair. Though she was having second thoughts, Ashley knew that she had to do this. She wanted to do this. His hands were trailing up her back now, slowly taking off her shirt. She wanted to be heard, she wanted to feel loved… and now she was. _

_ "Are you ready for this?" He asked. _

_ Ashley could not make words come out of her mouth, so instead she nodded._

Ashley Jurgens woke up with a start and looked around her bedroom in a panic. Her dream had been so vivid, and then she recalled that it was hardly a dream… but more of a memory. How could she have been so stupid? Look at where it had left her. She had always concluded that she would never end up like Amy, that she would never be so idiotic or stupid.

Now, there was nothing she could say or do, that could ever take back what she had done. The nausea she was experiencing was proof of that. Her expanding waist line was proof of that. The pregnancy test was proof of that.

She looked over at her desk, where her birth control sat. She'd discarded it right before… the incident. Now she only had one other option, one that she had always been against… but now that she was in that situation, she didn't know what to think.

Amy paced around her own bedroom. Her son, John was playing on the floor. Amy could hardly look at him. Whenever she glanced his way, she thought of his father, Ricky, and became infuriated. She couldn't help but think of how dysfunctional, or more dysfunctional her family would be once Ashley's baby was born. John would have a cousin/half brother. How incestuous? How could Ricky do this?

There was a knock at the door. Amy heard her mother answer the door, and call to her. As Amy grabbed her son and walked towards the front door, she saw Peyton standing there… her long legs covered with red leggings and a short red dress covering the rest of her body modestly. Amy caught her father staring with an awe struck look across his face. Gross.

"Hey Amy," Peyton smiled, and held up a box of donuts clearly for the family that George snatched.

"It's nice to finally meet you Peyton." George smiled, like a young boy under a spell.

"You too, Mr Juergens! And you, Mrs. Juergens." Peyton smiled and nodded at the family. Anne nodded and smiled, clearly impressed with the girl. "Anyways, Amy, I thought I'd give you a ride to school today. Since, you've been so kind to me with driving me around."

Amy smiled. This was just the distraction she needed. Besides, she could tell Peyton about Ashley. Peyton hadn't met Ashley yet, nor would she say anything. She was trustworthy, and besides… Peyton owed Amy for keeping her secret.

"I'll get John's car seat."

Minutes later, the two girls were side by side in the school's parking lot. Amy was watching as people looked at Peyton's car with longing looks. It was yellow, for christ's sake. It was like something out of a movie.

"Is something wrong?" Peyton asked Amy, looking concerned for her friend.

"Ricky…" Amy murmured angrily.  
"What about Ricky?" Peyton asked, looking panic stricken.

"He got my little sister… pregnant." Amy forced out of her mouth.

Peyton felt tears sting her eyes. The world was falling in crumbles around her. How could he do this? To someone else? To Amy's sister?

"Peyton…" Amy started. "Are you crying?"

Peyton sucked in a breath. "I'm… dating… Ricky."

"What?" Amy basically yelled, looking furious.

"I meant to tell you, this morning. It's new… or was." Peyton said, a tear trickling down her face. She wiped it quickly and looked at Amy, with a pleading look.

"I'm not mad at you. It would have been fine, if he wasn't such a bastard." Amy growled and hugged her friend. "I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry." Peyton said, hugging back. Then, she gave the keys to Amy. "Lock this up for me." She said, before hoping out of the car and making her way towards the school furiously.

"This can't be good." Amy muttered.

Ricky was standing at Peyton's locker waiting for her. He could not believe this feeling. It was so different than anything else he had ever felt. He got the warm fuzzies when he pictured Peyton's face, and his heart raced when he remembered her kisses.

His day brightened as he saw her walking towards him as a quick pace, her heels click clacking on the floor loudly as she went. As she reached him, she through on a smile. Ricky should have known something was up… as it wasn't the usual smile that appeared on his girlfriend's lips.

"Can I speak to you in private?" Peyton asked sweetly.

"Sure," Ricky smiled back awkwardly, and led her towards an abandoned classroom. Once inside he grabbed her by the waist and went in for a kiss. But instead he got a blow to the face.

Peyton had slapped him with all of the strength she could muster.

"What the hell…" Ricky asked, very confused, holding his palm to his cheek.

"What did they ever do to you?" Peyton asked, tears falling down her face now. "You are not the person that I thought I knew."

"Peyton…" Ricky looked like a lost puppy dog. "What in the hell are you talking about?"

"You got Amy's sister pregnant!" Peyton yelled.

"What!" Ricky asked, now he was really confused.

"Oh, has she not told you?" Peyton said sarcastically.

"No she hasn't, and even if she did… it wouldn't make a difference." Ricky said, anger bubbling underneath his voice.

"Oh, and why is that?" Peyton asked while crossing her arms.

"Let's see… perhaps because I've never had sex with Ashley."

Peyton was left a very shocked. "But Amy said…"

"Do you just listen to anything Amy says?" Ricky asked, suddenly repulsed. "Peyton, I love you. Okay? There, I said it. You are either in or out."

Peyton was suddenly taken aback. "Why are you giving me an ultimatum?"

"Obviously you need one. Because you cannot make up your own mind about me."

"That's funny coming from you, Underwood." Peyton snarled. "Just yesterday, you were accusing me of having another boyfriend!"

"That was different!" Ricky shouted.

"How so?" Peyton asked, walking towards him. Ricky didn't have an answer. Instead he took a step towards her, and grabbed her by the back of her head and began to kiss her.

"Stop," Peyton breathed, while still kissing him.

"You don't want me to." Ricky said, continuing. Peyton pushed him off of her and made her way out of the classroom. She hadn't wanted him to stop. She had wanted herself to stop. She was getting in too deep.

Ricky walked out of the classroom after her, but ran into Amy instead. Who walked over to him with a stern look on her face. Ricky knew and understood what was coming.

He felt a slap across his face. It was even harder than the one Peyton had inflicted on him.

"You are a prick, Ricky Underwood." Amy spoke with disgust, and walked away.

"Amy!" Ricky called, not wanting the mother of his child to think that he had impregnated her sister. When she did not turn back, he held his cheek and wondered out loud why he was always the one being slapped around.

"Amy said it all," Adrian Lee smiled as she walked by and winked at him.

**Sorry! I know this is out a little later than expected. But, I've had strep throat! Eeek! So, a lot of sleep has been happening. Anyways, I know where the story is leading. I'm sorry if it's being a bit dull… I'm worrying about that because no one left reviews for the last chapter! If you thought it was a bit boring, let me know! If you liked this one, let me know! Thanks for reading and please review! **


	15. Chapter 15

Ricky was utterly confused. The two most important women in his life thought he was a huge asshole that got 15 year olds pregnant. Well, he'd done that before but that was almost two years ago. He sat in the empty classroom Peyton had left him in with a glazed over look in his eyes and was becoming increasingly angry by the second.

_If _Ashley was pregnant, why would she tell Amy that it was his baby? The most they'd ever done was kiss. He shook his head in disbelief. Ashley couldn't get away with this, he needed to confront her. She was ruining his life and his relationship with Peyton.

He stood up to leave but when he turned to face the door he saw the face that he longed to see most in the world.

"Hi," she said, her green eyes filled with tears begging to drip out of them.

"Peyton," He sighed. He didn't care that she had been influenced by Amy, or that she had hit him. He just wanted her to be in his arms again, and to know that he'd done nothing wrong.

"You didn't sleep with Amy's sister." Peyton said, it wasn't a question. "Even if you had, I don't really have a right to be mad. It would have been before you met me."

"No, I didn't sleep with Ashley." Ricky replied. "And it doesn't matter, because it didn't happen."

"I…" Peyton started to choke up. "I'm sorry."

She walked closer to him and he met her half way as she began to cry into his arms softly. He put his arms around her and stroked her amber hair until she was all cried out.

"I'm not like this, Ricky." Peyton said, suddenly. "I don't cry, and I don't involve myself in relationships because I don't like feeling like my happiness depends on what you do."

"I know," Ricky replied. "I used to feel like that all the time."

"What changed?" Peyton asked, her eyes scanning Ricky for an answer.

"I did." He replied, he was being honest. Ricky had changed after John was born. Seeing his son, he knew he'd have to grow up sooner or later. He'd tried with Adrian, but she had ruined it. That had changed him also. Ricky was ready to say: "I love you" or "I want to be with you, and only you".

"Jesus," Peyton said under her breath. "I can't help but wonder what our relationship will be like, if the last three weeks are anything to go by."

Ricky's eyes grew wide. He took Peyton's shoulders and forced her to look up at him. With a serious tone, he said: "It'll be great then. I love spending time with you. I love kissing with you. I love sleeping next to you. And I'm sure that I'd love waking up next to you, if you didn't always run off before I could!"

"This is going to sound really corny, but you are too good for me." Peyton said. Ricky shook his head and laughed a little bit, taking Peyton and squishing her in a big hug. As he took her lips in his, Ricky could not help but let out a sigh of relief. While Peyton, was sure that if it had been anyone else… she'd have been over this relationship by now. And that scared her.

Meanwhile, Amy Juergens slammed her front door shut as she stormed in the house with fury. When John started to cry because of the loud surprising noise, Amy realized the effect her anger must be having on him.

"Oh, John." She said, holding her baby close to her. "I'm so sorry."

As she silently cried, John began to stop his tears. "Momma"

"What!" Amy suddenly stopped crying, and looked at her son in amazement. He had spoken his first word, and it happened to be her name. "John! You said Momma!"

Amy nearly jumped for joy, and went to reach for her cell phone. She needed to tell Ricky about this. Then it hit her, Ricky was a piece of scum beneath the earth. Not only had he gotten her pregnant, but he had gotten her sister pregnant. He was a life ruiner.

There was a quick knock on the door.

"Stay there, John." Amy said, placing him on the living room floor amongst his toys.

As she walked to the door, she had a sinking feeling in her stomach. She knew who was at the door, and debated not opening it.

"What do you want, Ricky?" Amy asked, folding her arms over her chest after she had opened up the door.

"Amy, I swear I didn't!" Ricky said, he looked genuine but she knew better than to trust him one-hundred percent.

"Come in, you'll freak out the neighbours." She said, ushering him inside.

"I need to talk to her. I don't know why she is saying that I'm the father of her baby because I've never slept with Ashley, even if I wanted to… I couldn't! She's my son's aunt." He said, Ricky looked scared as hell, and Amy had begun to believe him. She had grown to respect Ricky since their son had been born, and he seemed to have grown up almost as much as she had.

"She's probably in the garage. I'll go with you."

The two past the living room where George was playing with baby John on the floor.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Amy's father asked, looking at them suspiciously.

"We… we were just, uh, going to talk to Ashley. She's having a rough time." Amy stumbled through a poorly told lie.

"Would you mind watching John for a second, sir?" Ricky asked politely.

"No problem, kids." George said, and watched them as they went out into the garage. Looking at John, he smiled and said. "They are up to something, Johnny boy."

In the garage, Ashley lay curled up on her bed as Ricky and Amy walked into the room. She did not bother to turn around to see who it was.

"Ashley, there is someone here to see you." Amy said, quite quietly.

"Go away," Ashley replied, not bothering to move an inch.

"It's me." Ricky said, making his presence known.

Ashley immeadiately flipped over and sat up, her eyes like deer's in the headlights.

"What is he doing here?" She asked, alarmed.

"You two need to talk." Amy said, her arms seemed to be permanently crossed in a disapproving gesture.

"Why are you saying I'm your baby's father, Ashley?" Ricky asked, unamused. The anger in his voice was apparent.

"I… I never said that!" Ashley said, looking at Amy with a frightened look.

"Yes you did!" Amy said.

"No, I never said that!" Ashley began. "You just assumed, and then I never corrected you!"

"Why would you just assume it was me?" Ricky asked, looking at Amy.

"You're the only guy she's hung around all summer save for Grant, who went off to Medical Camp!" Amy retorted.

"That doesn't mean I've slept with her!" Ricky argued.

"SHUT UP!" Ashley yelled. "Either way, it doesn't matter! Because it is your fault, Ricky. This is your entire fault. I would never have gotten pregnant if it hadn't been for y_ou_."

"What!" Amy and Ricky asked at the same time.

"If you had never made me fall in love with you, I would have never fucked some guy to get back at you because you wouldn't have sex with me!" Ashley said, tears were streaming down her eyes and her face was red and blotchy.

"Ashley… I never meant to hurt you, but I didn't really feel that way about you." Ricky said, calmly.

"Ashley, you can't blame Ricky for your mistakes. Trust me, I've tried it… it doesn't do any good." Amy said, walking over to her sister and placing her hand on her sobbing shoulder.

"I… just don't know what to do." Ashley cried into her palms, as she did so… Amy looked up at Ricky and mouthed the word "Sorry" to him.

He nodded his head, and went outside to wait for Amy to come out of her sister's room. When she did, she hugged him in apology.

"I'm sorry that I just assumed." Amy said.

"It's fine. Everyone seems to just assume that shit about me." Ricky said, looking a little peeved. "You know, you almost cost me my relationship today?"

"Uh, I just said sorry." Amy said, taken aback. "I mean it, and besides since you said 'almost' I'm guessing that you and Peyton have made up and all that jazz."

"Sorry," Ricky said. "Now, I'm sorry. I'm just a little sensitive today, I guess."

"Whatever." Amy said with a shrug of her shoulders. "By the way, John said his first word today!"

"What was it?" Ricky asked in an excited tone.

"Momma." Amy said, looking proud and mighty. "I've won the bet; you owe me twenty big ones."

And with that, Ricky pulled out his wallet as they went inside to spend quality time with their son.

**WOOOOOT, I've been gone for ages. Sorry, I've been making some big changes in my life. And I just didn't have time to write for this fanfic. I was feeling uninspired. But, I guess with the new season coming soon I better finish this up! Thanks for reading, please review! I promise to update more frequently! 3 **


	16. Chapter 16

Amy sat on a barstool in the Pizza King restaurant. Her eyes were glazed over as she stared into the near distance. Her mouth hung open in admiration as her glance coyly followed her manager, Carson, as he interacted with the rest of the staff with a glowing smile reseting beautifully on his face.

Amy hardly noticed as he made his way over to her, as she twirled her long brown hair between her index and middle finger. It wasn't until Carson gave her a slight kiss on the cheek in greeting that she snapped out of her daze.

"Amy," Carson smiled an even sweeter smile.

"Hey," Amy returned the smile.

"Do you want to come over tonight?" Carson asked, his most seductive voice was coaxing Amy into agreement, but she had to take care of John tonight.

"I…" she began to agree. "I have John tonight."

Carson scrunched his face up in confusion and ran his hand nervously through his auburn hair. "I have to know who this 'John' is, it's killing me inside!"

Amy let out a laugh. "You don't know who John is? Peyton hasn't told you?"

"Well, I asked her about him and she said he was cute and that I would love him. But, why would I love someone who you were involved with that wasn't me?" Carson asked, his voice was calm but his eyes looked genuinely worried about what Amy was going to say.

Amy snorted with laughter, but stopped when she saw the look on Carson's face.

"John is my _son_." Amy stated with a little giggle in her voice.

Carson's eyes grew wide. And Amy held her breathe, she'd had luck so far with guys being accepting of her teen-motherhood situation but she always worried that when a guy found out that he'd run and hide.

Carson let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god. I thought you were emotionally attached to some other dude!"

"You're okay with me being a mom?" Amy asked, she was suddenly overflowing with excitement.

"Why wouldn't I be? If I like a girl, why does it matter if she has a kid?" Carson said, hugging Amy close and secretly sniffing her hair, because he was a sentimentally creepy sort of guy.

"I'm glad," was all Amy could muster.

**On the other side of town, **Peyton lay underneath Ricky's warm body as they kissed passionately. Ricky was a kissing sensation, and Peyton seemed addicted. Little did she know that he felt the same as she did. Though they hadn't done anything yet, and Ricky didn't verbally push her to do anything Peyton knew that he _really _wanted to, with him on top of her it was completely obvious.

She just didn't know if she was ready, she knew that if she slept with him… that she would be emotionally tied to him forever, whilst she might just be another peg on the totem pole for his long list of sexual partners.

"Oh, okay. We need to stop." Ricky said in a panic as he rolled over onto his back. Peyton scooted on the bed to cuddle up next to him. And he threw his arm around her.

"Why?" she asked, she was curious and hadn't wanted to stop.

"Because I got a little, erm, too excited." Ricky said, catching his breath. His face was red.

"I wouldn't have minded." Peyton said honestly.

"I would have. That hasn't happened to me since I was fourteen." Ricky laughed a little bit, and tangled his fingers in her hair.

"Was that the last time a girl made you fight to have sex with her?" Peyton asked, she wasn't smiling jokingly, she was being serious.

Ricky laid there playing with Peyton's hair in deep thought.

"Come to think of it, yes… it was." He replied to her question.

Now Peyton let out a laugh of epic proportions. And Ricky couldn't help but laugh too.

"What if we have sex, and everything changes? What if we have sex and you don't feel the same anymore? Where does that leave me?" she asked, she was seriously concerned.

Ricky rolled over on his side and looked into his girlfriend's eyes with what could only be described as love and worry.

"You're right, I won't feel the same. I'll be even happier than I am now, even though I'm not sure that is possible." He said, grabbing Peyton's chin with affection and kissing her lips softly as she smiled.

"How do you know that?" Peyton asked, smiling.

"I just know." He replied.

"There are… other things we can do until I think I'm ready." Peyton said, she hadn't realized it but her voice had gone all sultry and sexy.

"Like watch TV?" Ricky asked, he hadn't taken the hint.

"No!" Peyton laughed, hitting him in the shoulder. She threw a leg over top of him and looked down at him seductively. "_Other things._"

"Oh!" Ricky caught on, and smiled deeply as he watched his beyond beautiful girlfriend slowly unbutton her shirt with pleasure. He liked where this was going.

** Ashley Jeurgens **sat in her room moping about, as she had done for days. She held a phone in her hand and the Yellow Pages was sitting open across her lap. She had been staring at the phone numbers for more than thirty minutes. She had thought it over for the last week or so, and she knew what she had to do. She had to do what was best for her, and her family.

She did not want to be a mother. She did not want a third baby in the house. She did not want to be Amy. She wanted to be Ashley, and she didn't want to live a life based on her mistakes. Ashley knew she had been wrong to do what she did, she knew that she should not have slept with…

Ashley looked through her cell phone for his number. She scrolled down and stopped as she spotted the name. Sighing, she pressed talk and waited as the phone rang.

"Ashley?" The guy on the other side of the phone asked in surprise. "You haven't answered my calls since… well, you know."

"Hi," she said quietly.

"Is something wrong?" He asked, concern apparent in his voice.

"I…" she tried to say it, nothing would come out. "Yes."

"Yes, something is wrong?" The guy asked.

Ashley let out a little whimper as she worked up the courage to say it.

"I… I'm pregnant." She finally explained.

"What?" He exclaimed. "You said you were on the pill!"

"I lied." She cried, her sobs clouding up the connection of the phone.

"What the _hell_?"

"I'm so sorry, Jimmy." She said, her voice quivering at his name. Her one night stand, the father of the foetus growing inside of her stomach, the guy who took her virginity, the guy whose virginity she took.

Just as she was about to spew more apologies, Ashley heard the click of the phone being hung up. Hanging up her own phone in shock, she could feel the tears brimming in her eyes and curled up on the bed in the foetal position.

She was a wreck.

**Two chapters, two days. YAY. Thanks to everyone who review. Please do it again, it motivates me! **


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